A Different Light
by DJNS
Summary: AU following EIP. Aang begins to see Toph as more than a good friend. Taang/Kataang
1. Prologue

**A/N: This story picks up after EIP. I've had this idea for some months now and it will not leave me alone so, here I am. Before we get started though, I want to establish some ground rules.**

**1. Unlike my other stories, this one is NOT complete, which means updates will probably take a little longer. (Despite that, however, I have this story completely outlined and know exactly how I want it to end.)**

**2. In accord with that, both Taang and Kataang will be featured prominently in this story. However, I'm not going to tell anyone how it will end. You either read it blind and enjoy the story for what it is, or don't. It's your choice.**

**3. Just because this is a Taang fic, that does not mean that Zutara is lurking around the corner. It is not and it will not be featured in this story.**

**If the above stipulations are acceptable to you, read on and I hope you enjoy my very first ever Taang fic.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar or the characters within this story, so Mike...Bryan, don't sue me. That is all.**

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**Prologue**

"Are you crying?"

The sound of the pounding surf almost drowned out her question. Aang wasn't crying, but he sure did feel like doing so. He didn't suppose he needed to tell Toph that, however. She seemed to have a knack for sensing such things just as he had sensed her approach from behind. Even with only the pale moonlight as illumination on the lonely beach, he could still discern the lines of her diminutive frame with stunning clarity. He counted every footstep, even as they were muffled by the sand. Aang had learned a long time ago to wait and listen. She had taught him that. She had taught him well.

Aang wished now that she had a lesson for dealing with the crushing uncertainty that was now threatening to suffocate him. He wished she had a solution for calming the gripping panic that had suddenly begun unfurling in his chest. Following that horrible play, Aang had come out to the beach and sat along the water's edge in hopes of gaining some perspective. He had gained nothing more than the salty spray of the tide and more twisting confusion as the night lengthened.

His thoughts were a bewildering jumble. He worried about what he would do when he finally faced Firelord Ozai. He wondered if he was truly ready for the task ahead of him. He feared, more than anything, that he would fail. That was not an option at all. He had already fallen too many times to recall. He couldn't afford to make another costly mistake. The _world_ couldn't afford it.

"I bet you're wishing you could just run away, aren't you?" Toph wondered aloud, briefly placing a hand on his bare shoulder before folding down beside him on the damp sand.

Aang spared her with a cursory glance before returning his gaze to the tide. "It's crossed my mind," he admitted.

Toph responded to that with a terse snort. "Oh, stop being such a baby!" she ordered, the underlying affection in her tone softening the harshness of her words. "You're taking that play too seriously, Aang. You all are. None of those people know what you've gone through to make it to this point. Who cares what they think?"

"That's easy for you to say, Toph," Aang replied sullenly. "You weren't the one being portrayed as some silly, irresponsible child. That was _me_." He sighed, his shoulders slumping forward in heavy defeat. "I don't know…maybe I _am_ a silly, irresponsible child. Maybe I'm not ready for any of this. Maybe I never will be."

"Is this 'angst on Toph's shoulder' day or something?" she asked with some irritation. "Sheesh. First Zuko and now you. Just get over yourself, Twinkle Toes. You're the Avatar, so just suck it up because that's not going to change anytime soon."

"Wow…way to feel my pain there, Toph."

"For crying out loud, Aang, strap on a pair!" she groaned. "Stop being like this! You always give your best and you know it! We know it. You keep pushing yourself even when the outcome looks bleak. In the end, that's all you can do."

Aang scooped up a handful of sand and bended a controlled breeze to blow the grains in steady formation into the foamy crowns of the incoming waves. "It's not enough to do my best, Toph," he sighed. "I can't afford to lose this time. But then…I don't know if I have what it takes to win."

"You've been training night and day," Toph reasoned. "You have all four bending elements on your side now. You're dedicated and versatile. What more do you need?"

"It's not that," he mumbled with a shake of his head. "I guess I'm afraid. I'm afraid of what I may have to do to end this war. I'm afraid of compromising myself."

"Compromising yourself?" Toph echoed blankly.

"I've already lost so much already," Aang considered, trying not to think of Katara and the last conversation between them as he said the words. "My childhood. My home. My people. I don't…I don't want to lose myself as well. Me…who I am at the core…that's all I have left."

"I don't think I understand what you're saying, Aang."

"Of course, you don't," Aang said, accepting and disappointed all at once, locked in his own personal torment. "I don't suppose most people would. After all, I'm the Avatar. I have a duty. Who cares what it cost, right?"

Toph sat there for a moment in pensive silence, wanting to so much to chase away the thread of defeat she heard in his voice. Somehow, she seriously doubted teasing him would help matters and neither would a glib dismissal of his feelings. She wondered briefly what Katara would do if she were there. The answer came to Toph almost instantly and, decision made, she leaned forward to do something heretofore unprecedented in the history of her friendship with Aang. She kissed him on cheek.

Unfortunately, her impulsive deed didn't have the reaction she expected. Aang responded as if she'd set him on fire. He touched the spot where she had kissed him, his eyes widened in an incredulous stare. "What was _that_?" Aang cried.

"I thought I'd try a change of pace," Toph replied with an unaffected shrug. "I don't know. It just seemed to me that you needed something more than my usual punch in the arm."

"So you kissed me?" Aang balked, half appalled and half...filled with another sudden emotion that he couldn't quite describe. The realization left him flustered and frowning.

"Eh…I guess I see your point," Toph decided capriciously, drawing back her fist to wallop him in the bicep with enough force to send him sprawling into the sand. "I should stick with what I know."

As she rolled to her feet, Aang continued to stare at her with a mixture of disbelief and surprise. For a moment, it seemed to him as if he were looking at Toph with new eyes, in a completely different light than he had before. "Work it out, Twinkle Toes," Toph told him affectionately. "It just doesn't feel right when you're unhappy." Her voice lowered an octave, became almost gentle when she added, "I don't like it when you're unhappy."

Aang stared after her as she made her trek back towards the house, thoughtfully fingering the curious tingling in his cheek and hardly aware of the rhythmic throbbing in his arm at all.


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

A blaze of fire sizzled past his cheek, close enough to permeate his skin with its broiling heat. Reflexively, Aang ducked out of its path before pinning Zuko with a confused glare once he righted himself. "What was that for?" he demanded hotly. "You almost burned half my face off!"

"Oh, the horror," Zuko deadpanned.

Aang closed his eyes, regretting his thoughtless words and apologizing for them even if Zuko didn't seem very offended by them. "I'm just saying…what gives?" he rephrased mildly. "Did I take a wrong step or something?"

"When we're training, _all_ of you needs to be engaged, Aang," Zuko told him, resuming his stance. "Now maybe you'll pay attention!"

Zuko might not have pulled such a stunt if Katara had been present. They had only recently gotten to a point where he could train Aang without her constant harping on his teaching style. She had a real problem with his aggressive methods when redirecting Aang's attention and they'd had words about it in the past. Since their little "field trip" to find her mother's killer, however, Katara had been much more relaxed about his training sessions with Aang, even if she did still, occasionally, shoot him a death glare for being too rough. Zuko had hoped the change would mean far less distractions for Aang because he often lapped up Katara's coddling with a spoon.

_So much for that theory_, Zuko sighed inwardly.

Katara or no Katara, his young pupil was still as distracted as ever. Zuko didn't know whether it was the tropical locale, the oppressive heat, Aang's painfully short attention span or an aggravating mixture of all three, but whatever it was, his lesson with Aang was going nowhere fast. The younger boy countered his fire blasts and obeyed his instructions to the letter, but there was no heart behind his attacks. He was listless and preoccupied. To Zuko, it seemed the young Avatar was merely going through the motions.

"Enough!" Zuko bellowed, falling back with a deep breath. "Aang, do you need to take a break or something?"

"A break?" Aang echoed, frowning. "What? No…why would you think I need a break?"

Zuko repressed the understandable urge to roll his eyes. "You've been someplace else all morning."

"No, I haven't," Aang protested. "I came to the beach first thing this morning. You said, 'Aang, our lessons must have structure. To bend fire you must be disciplined, thus you must be present and on time,'" he went on in imitation of Zuko, right down to his gesturing. "I'm here _and_ I was on time."

Growling his exasperation and resisting the inclination to palm his face, Zuko clarified, "No, I mean your _mind_ has been someplace else. You're not concentrating and it's starting to bug me!"

"Sorry," Aang mumbled.

"Don't be sorry," Zuko replied shortly. "Get your head together and then we'll resume after lunch."

Aang watched Zuko walk away with an inward groan. Sifu Hotman was right and he knew it. Despite the fact his body had been present during the training session; his mind _was_ someplace else entirely. He couldn't stop obsessing over his upcoming confrontation with Ozai and, in the rare moments when he wasn't thinking about that, he was obsessing about Katara. That last conversation between them just would not leave him alone. He lacked the courage to confront her about it, not after the disastrous consequences the last time he had tried, and waiting for her to come to him was proving frustrating.

Sighing, he sat down on the jagged edge of a nearby boulder to blindly contemplate the tall, grassy reeds swaying in the morning breeze. These days he wasn't certain of anything anymore and, with the comet's arrival mere days away, Aang knew he couldn't afford to be indecisive or distracted. He couldn't help it though. Nothing made sense. Nothing seemed right. And, to make matters worse, since his talk with Toph the other night his mind had been wandering to the craziest places…

Lost in thought and unaware of the minutes gradually stretching into hours, Aang was not at all mindful of the sun's blistering rays on his back. His skin gradually reddened as he sat there, but Aang wasn't alerted to the damage being done until he felt Katara brush a hand across his shoulder. He recoiled from her cool touch with a surprised yelp of pain and twisted around to face her.

Katara regarded him with a small smile. "You're starting to burn," she told him.

He squinted up at her in confusion, left suddenly breathless to see her standing there. "What?"

"Your skin," she clarified. "It's already starting to turn red. You don't want it to blister, do you?" Without waiting for his response, she uncorked the water skin at her waist. "I should take care of it before it gets worse."

Though it took some time, Aang managed to slow his excited breathing. His heart continued knocking erratically in his chest, however, due to her nearness. There was little Aang could do about that and so he concentrated on the things he could control by schooling his features into an unreadable mask as he regarded her. "Is that why you came out here?" he mumbled with some disappointment. "To take care of my sunburn?"

"Actually, Zuko asked me to come look after you," Katara answered. "You've been out here a while. He…he seemed to think you needed to talk." Her eyes flashed with guilt before she quickly lowered them in an effort to avoid his probing stare. "Do you?" she asked. "Do you need to talk?"

For the moment, Aang ignored her tentative question. It smarted that she hadn't come up with the idea to seek him out on her own. Aang didn't know why, but the fact she had needed to be prodded into coming after him made him inexplicably angry. He stared at her wordlessly before turning away to moodily trace the sharp edges of his rocky perch with his index finger.

"I don't need to talk," he muttered sullenly. "You can go back inside now." She whispered his name, but his response was even colder when he said, "I want to be alone."

"I think we should talk," Katara persisted.

"Because Zuko asked you to?" Aang grated sardonically.

"Because there's all this tension between us," Katara countered softly. "I think we should talk about the other night."

Rather than relieving him, her suggestion filled him with a fresh wave of anger. Three days ago when _he_ had wanted to talk about it she had been confused. Three days ago when _he_ had needed answers she had wanted her space. Now, their roles were reversed and Katara was more than willing to talk to him, likely she would even clear up some of the confusion that had been left between them the night of the play.

Conversely, however, Aang wasn't completely sure he was interested in what she had to say now. His anger and confusion was making him a bit unreasonable and, beyond all the fury he felt at the moment, he recognized that. He wasn't being fair to her or even very mature right then, but Aang simply couldn't bring himself to care.

"Didn't you say everything you had to say the other night?" he mumbled petulantly. "You're confused. I got it. Don't need a recap."

Katara narrowed her eyes at the clipped edge in his tone. "Obviously you do need a recap or we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

"I just told you I don't want to hear it!" Aang flung back.

The desire to throttle him rose up in Katara unbidden and she had to remind herself that his feelings were hurt and, naturally, he was going to be something of a jerk because of it. In hindsight, she recognized she could have handled his questions the night of the play a little better than she had. It was only that she had been so flustered when he confronted her so boldly about her feelings that she hadn't known how to react. Until that moment, she hadn't even let herself dwell on how she felt about him at all.

When Aang had kissed her the day of the eclipse, Katara had been forced to acknowledge that her feelings for him weren't as straightforward as she'd once believed. She knew then that she _liked_ him, what that meant…whether her feelings were a crush, infatuation or something infinitely deeper than that was something Katara had yet to figure out.

After the invasion failed and her father and the other Water Tribe warriors had been taken prisoner, Katara had basically pushed all her uncertainty about it onto the backburner. There were bigger issues at hand than her trying to puzzle out whether she was in love with Aang or not. He had been devastated and heartbroken in the wake of their latest failure and Katara knew that he carried the burden of that botched attempt on his shoulders. He blamed himself. Given that knowledge, she was reluctant to distract him with talk about feelings she wasn't entirely sure weren't transient in nature.

They were in the middle of a war and he _needed_ to focus. If he failed again, if she was the reason he failed again…Aang wouldn't be the only one who would be left devastated in the aftermath. She would suffer as well. The whole world would suffer. The responsibility rested upon her was enormous for Katara, almost overwhelming, but she was determined to do what she thought was right, even if Aang hated her for it.

The thing was…she didn't _want_ him to hate her. She wanted him to understand. She _needed_ him to understand. However, Aang couldn't seem to see past his own feelings of rejection to even consider her viewpoint. He couldn't see that she was trying to protect him. She was trying to protect them both. His reaction was understandable, she supposed, but altogether frustrating as well.

"Aang, don't be this way," she pleaded. She reached out to touch his shoulder and he flinched away. Katara couldn't be sure if it was the contact with his tender skin that caused the reaction or if he was simply recoiling from her touch. She was afraid to ask him. "At least, let me take care of your back," she offered gently.

There was no use denying his back was already beginning to prickle with pain. Just the slight action of flexing his muscles hurt. Without Katara's help, those small tendrils of discomfort were likely to become agony. Therefore, Aang jerked his head in a terse nod and presented her with his back again. "Go ahead."

Seconds later, he felt the cooling ebb of her bending water as it swept over his shoulders and the curve of his back. He bit down against the urge to sigh his relief as the tightening sting in his back gradually lessened and his blistered flesh began to heal. "Does that feel better?" she asked him softly.

"Yes," he whispered. "Thank you, Katara."

"You're welcome," she murmured back as he straightened. After re-corking her bending water, Katara stepped around in front of him and stooped down low to regard his face. "So…are you ready to talk to me now?" she sighed with a slight smile.

"I guess…" Aang mumbled but it was evident his demeanor was a great deal less antagonistic than it had been. "Go ahead," he invited softly.

"Okay, I know you probably think the other night was a rejection—," she began.

"Wasn't it?" he accused before she'd even finished.

"No, it wasn't," Katara insisted calmly. "It wasn't a rejection exactly. I _care_ about you, Aang. I'm trying to figure out what that means, but…it's all so confusing right now. I know that sounds really lame to you, but that's the best I can do right now."

"Okay, well…I guess that's slightly better than what you said the other night," he muttered to himself.

"I'm trying to be honest!" she cried softly.

"Thanks for that."

His unenthused sarcasm was not lost on her. "Aang…it's complicated," Katara groaned.

"Make it simple then."

"Okay fine," she said. "It's not good for us to be focused on this stuff, not when everything is so crazy, not when you have so much ahead of you to face. I can't spend all my time trying to figure out what I feel for you when there are more important things at stake. Neither should you."

"Shouldn't that be my decision and not yours?" Aang wondered in mild aggravation.

"It doesn't just affect you, Aang."

"So what are you saying?" he asked. "You want me to wait until after the war is over, then you'll let me know?"

"I'm saying that we should concentrate on taking down Firelord Ozai," Katara said. "And then, when the war is over, we'll deal with the other stuff." She reached out to cover his hands, which were bunched tightly against his thighs, and regarded him with a beseeching stare. "I need some time to figure it out, okay? Can you understand that, Aang? Can you give me time…please?"

After a few moments, Aang finally began to relax. He tugged his hand from beneath her grasp to lightly stroke her cheek. Katara closed her eyes and tried not to dwell too much on how good it felt to have him touch her that way. It seemed to her that whenever she thought she had a good grip on what she felt for him and what she wanted, five minutes later she was pitched right back into emotional chaos again. Katara vaguely wondered if that was what falling in love felt like.

"I've been waiting for you this whole time, Katara," he whispered solemnly. "I don't guess it's going to kill me to wait a little longer."

Katara smiled at him and covered his hand with her fingers, blinking back the sudden tears that came to her eyes. "Thank you for understanding, Aang," she whispered back.

When she left him alone on the beach, Aang couldn't say that he felt any better about the situation than he had before she had come out there. He was left with the realization that the girl he was in love with might not feel the same about him and it hurt. It hurt a lot. But, rather than let himself crawl into some deep, dark pit of despair, Aang decided in that moment that…he didn't care.

None of that could matter right now because Katara was right. He did have bigger matters to think about, namely what he was going to do once he confronted Firelord Ozai. He had to be ready for that day and that was never going to happen if he was conflicted over things he couldn't change anyway. For now, he needed to put all the stuff with Katara out of his mind.

Decision made, Aang yielded to the sudden rumbling in his stomach, and trudged back towards the house for lunch. Momo scampered up sandy pathway to greet him the moment he cleared the trees and began chittering furiously in his ear while Appa released a glad bellow at the sight of him. His friends, sans Zuko, were already gathered together for lunch, seated on a blanket beneath the leafy canopy of palm trees that sprouted out in front of the beach house. They were laughing comfortably amongst themselves as he made his approach.

Toph lifted her head with a smile when she detected the muted shuffle of his footsteps. "It's about time," she chided him. "We were about to give your lunch to Momo."

"Hey, I had first dibs," Sokka whined, making a grab for Aang's bowl.

Katara rapped his knuckles with a wooden spoon, provoking a whimpering yelp from Sokka. "That's for Aang!" she scolded her brother sharply. "You know he barely eats anything as it is."

"Thanks for looking out for me, Katara," Aang replied with a wide smile as he folded down onto the blanket. He scooped up his bowl of rice. "I'm starving!"

"Well, you'd better eat fast," Suki warned him. "Zuko went back into the house to get prepared for your training session. Round two."

"Great," Aang grunted unenthusiastically. "Now all he needs is a whip and a collar for me."

"Actually, it _is_ great," Sokka interjected, "because it gives me a chance to run something by you guys."

"Run what by us?" Aang asked, instantly on notice with the serious edge he heard in Sokka's tone.

"The comet arrives in five days," Sokka replied.

"Yeah?" Toph interjected, at a loss as to why he had provided that rather obvious piece of information. "And?"

"And," Sokka stressed, "Aang isn't ready."

A marked hush fell over the group with his assertion. The statement wasn't anything they all hadn't considered before, but it was the first time any one of them had voiced it aloud. Doing so packed the emotional equivalent of battering elephant-ram. The group, particularly Aang, was left cowed in the aftermath. He pushed away his bowl of rice, suddenly no longer hungry.

"I'm not saying you suck or anything," Sokka reassured him softly. "I'm just saying that you're going to need to be at the top of your game when you face Ozai and you only just now started learning to firebend. Toph even said the other day that you still need to work on your earthbending, so you're already at a disadvantage. It's not like we can fall back on the Avatar State or anything."

"I don't really know if I'd want Aang to fall back on the Avatar State," Katara mumbled pensively. "So I can't feel there's a great loss there."

"Says you," Sokka retorted, "because you're all emotional and girly." He ignored the offended reactions from both his girlfriend and sister and pressed on, "The Avatar State is raw power. If we had that on our side then Ozai wouldn't stand a chance."

"Aang, you said your chakra was locked," Toph considered after a moment. "Have you tried unlocking it?"

"I have," he admitted, slumping. "But, it's like something is blocking the flow of energy and I can't. I've tried, but I just can't."

"Then we're cooked," Sokka concluded. "There is no way we're going to be able to take on a comet enhanced Ozai."

"So why are we trying?" Suki wondered aloud. As expected she received a round of incredulous stares for her suggestion. "What I'm asking is…why is it important that you face Ozai _before_ the comet? Couldn't you just as easily wait until after?"

"But Roku said I need to face Ozai before the comet arrived," Aang protested. "That's the goal I've been working towards this whole time."

"Yeah, but that was _before_ the last Earth Kingdom stronghold fell," Toph reminded him. "There's pretty much nothing left for Ozai to take. I hate to say it, but…he has the world."

"Toph's right," Sokka agreed. "I know it's hard to admit and even harder to accept but, Ozai does have the world. Now, the only thing we can do is take it back from him." He regarded Aang with an earnest stare. "Suki has a point. If we wait until after the comet has come and gone, we'll have a better chance of doing that."

"Aang, what are thinking?" Katara whispered, scooting closer to place her hand on his shoulder. "This has to be _your_ decision. What do you want to do?"

"What Sokka said is true," he confessed in a low tone. "Because of my failure in Ba Sing Se and then later during the Invasion, Ozai _did_ take full control. Facing him before the comet arrives isn't going to change that. It might very well be suicide. I can't go back and change the mistakes I've made, but I can control what happens from this point forward."

"So we're in agreement then?" Sokka asked. "We'll wait until after the comet arrives to go after the Firelord?"

"We're in agreement," Aang said. "We'll wait."

The best laid plans never did run smoothly, however, and not two days after they made the decision to wait, the group found themselves changing their tactics once more after a rather illuminating discussion with Zuko. As much as Aang had known he couldn't afford to face the Firelord before the comet's arrival, he had also learned he lacked the option of waiting until afterwards either. Worse yet, the issue of what he would do once he finally did face Ozai finally came to the fore. His friends had been certain of one thing: Ozai had to die. Aang, on the other hand, remained unsure.

He agonized endlessly over what he should do and his conflict over the matter eventually led him to cross paths with a lion turtle, the very last of his kind, much like he and Appa were the last of their kind. At the time, Aang hadn't fully understood why he had felt such a kinship with the animal or even how their paths had managed to converge at all. The turtle had shared with Aang a vital piece of infinite wisdom and had bestowed him with a precious gift, though Aang didn't understand to full import of the wisdom or the gift until much later.

Only when he faced Ozai, when death was literally looming before him, when he was faced with the option of actively choosing his own path did Aang understand what the lion turtle had given him. He defeated the Firelord, gathering power from an inner strength he hadn't known he possessed. He became unbendable in mind, body and spirit. He found himself, not only as the Avatar, but as Aang…as a thirteen year old Airbender, the last of his people and culture, and he was at peace. After so many months of struggle and uncertainty and sacrifice, Aang knew exactly who he was and he was at peace.

When Sokka, Toph and Suki landed their airship in the spot where he and Ozai had battled, Aang smiled at them with a mixture of pride, relief and love. It was the first sense that he'd had since the struggle began that it was truly over. The war was finally over. Though he was thoroughly exhausted after his ordeal and more than a little sore, he and Suki bound Ozai together and carried him onto the airship while Sokka and Toph trailed behind. Once their prisoner was secure in the bowels of the airship, Aang and Suki made their way up to the main control room where Sokka was already beginning to take them towards the sky.

"Where are Zuko and Katara?" Aang asked, noting their conspicuous absence for the first time since he and the others had rendezvoused.

"They're in the Fire Nation," Toph explained reluctantly. "Zuko went to face Azula and claim his right place as Firelord and Katara went with them."

"Has anyone heard from them?" Aang demanded with mounting concern.

"Don't freak out," Sokka replied mildly. "Between Zuko and Katara, I'm sure they can handle Azula together. You know Katara can take care of herself. Besides, we're headed to the Fire Nation anyway so don't sweat it."

"Yeah Aang, relax," Suki told him. "You've had a long day. Get some rest."

"Well, I am a little tired…" Aang conceded, his weariness suddenly hitting him like a ton of boulders. He slumped weakly against a nearby wall with a fatigued groan. "Maybe I'll close my eyes for a little while."

"Toph, could you take him downstairs to one of the soldiers' quarters?" Sokka suggested. "Suki and I will man the airship."

"Will do, Captain," Toph replied with a snappy salute before turning to link a fatigued Aang's arm around her shoulder. "Come on, Twinkle Toes, let's get you to bed."

The room they found was simple and functional. There was a cramped closet situated behind the mechanical entry way, a small cot, which was anchored to the wall and suspended by thick metal chains and a simple wooden desk against the adjacent wall, which was bolted to the floor. Off in the furthest corner of the room there was a tiny area, evidently designated for washing up, with a deep metal basin attached to the wall and a cloudy oval mirror above it. Beside the basin was situated a tall, closet-like structure with what appeared to be a faucet head and a long braided cord hanging beside it.

"It's not the best," Aang mumbled tiredly as Toph walked him over towards the cot, "but I'm so tired, I'll take it."

However, by the time they got Aang situated in a room and tucked beneath the thin covers, he was wide awake despite the physical exhaustion he felt. Adrenaline continued to pump in his veins even though his battle with Ozai was long over. He could barely lie still and fidgeted and shifted under the blankets.

Though she could not see him, Toph could very well hear the rustling of the sheets. She sensed he was lying there ready to jump out of his skin. His heartbeat was tremulous and erratic and actually vibrated so violently it felt almost as if the beat were happening inside her own chest. Unable to leave him in such a state, Toph perched herself on the edge of his bed rather than joining Sokka and Suki in the top deck like she'd first planned.

"I don't need a babysitter," Aang informed her mildly.

"Did I say you did?" she challenged.

"I just…I don't want you to feel obligated to hang around," he told her.

"Well, maybe I wouldn't if you calmed down a little," she retorted. "I don't want this to end up like last time when you were hallucinating all over the place. That was freaky."

"This isn't like that time," Aang murmured.

"Yeah, whatever," Toph dismissed. "You're not going to sleep, are you?"

"I can't," Aang said. "I can't relax."

"Are you that worried about Katara?"

He was, but not as much as he thought he would be, not because he didn't care but because he knew very well how capable Katara was. He didn't doubt for a moment he'd see her again or, rather, he couldn't let himself doubt it. "I'm a little worried about her," he confessed finally, "but I'm not expecting the worst. I know she can take care of herself."

"Yeah, she can," Toph agreed softly. "We'd do better worrying about Azula than Katara." Her teasing managed to elicit a laugh from Aang, which quickly dissolved into a groan because the effort was murder on his stiffening joints. Matters weren't helped when Toph administered a playful punch to his shoulder a moment later. "So…you did good out there today."

"Yeah, I guess so," Aang replied with a pained grimace.

"I think better than 'I guess so,'" Toph teased him. "Unfortunately, I couldn't see a thing, but you must have been awesome. Sokka was cheering a blue streak the whole time. All he needed was a giant sign that said, 'Aang's number one!' He might have had one…I don't know," she concluded with a joking smile.

"No way," Aang guffawed around a snort of laughter.

"It was hilarious and kind of sweet too," Toph laughed. "I think he might actually bump Katara out of her spot as your biggest fan."

At the mention of Katara and the vague reminder of the uncertain circumstances between them, Aang felt his good humor dissipate as quickly as it had come. "I don't know about that," he mumbled.

"You don't know about what?" Toph wondered and when she was met with silence she persisted, "You mean about Katara being your biggest fan?" He didn't say anything to confirm her assumption, but the slight quickening of his breathing alerted Toph to the fact she was on the right track. "You're not still sore at Katara because of that fight you guys had before you disappeared, are you? She was just looking out for you, Aang."

He shifted onto his side, half burying his face in the pillow. "Toph, I don't really want to talk about it if it's all the same to you."

"Okay, fine," she agreed. "I'm not into that gooey, emotional stuff anyway. I have more pressing matters on my mind than your ongoing saga with the Sugar Queen."

Her flippant dismissal had Aang swallowing back a stunned laugh. "More pressing matters?" he parroted with a pensive frown, regarding her speculatively. "Like what?"

"Ozai…I want to know…how exactly did you take his bending away?" she asked bluntly, scooting closer with an expression that could only be described as unrestrained glee. "Tell me everything and don't skimp on the details. You're bad about glossing stuff over and I hate that."

Shaking his head at her avid enthusiasm even as he was amused by it, Aang pushed himself upright with a laugh. His mood was definitely lightened by her unabashed eagerness and excitement though. He couldn't help but feel eager and excited as well.

"Well," he began dramatically, "it all started when I dreamed of beating drums…"


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

The reunion in the Fire Nation capital was confusing. Already people were streaming through the broad streets of the Palace City declaring the war over. The alleys were practically painted with crimson as the people poured from their houses and actually danced in the road. The frenzy only increased when Sokka brought the mighty airship in for landing. As he and the others disembarked, a loud cheer went up from among the crowd. None of them had been expecting such a jubilant reception and the wariness showed on their faces as they inched down the gangplank.

With nodding smiles and the occasional handshakes, they gently shouldered their way through the dense crush of people while searching determinedly for a glimpse of Katara and Zuko. They were waylaid by yet another round of grateful fawning when they suddenly heard Aang's voice being called stridently over the roar of the multitude. Aang turned at the sound of Katara's cry only seconds before she enveloped him in an embrace so tight and so forceful that he almost groaned aloud.

Her exuberance was punishing his tender muscles and joints, but as uncomfortable as he was, Aang wouldn't have ended that hug for anything in the world. "I was so worried about you," she whispered in his ear. "Don't ever disappear like that again!"

"I'm sorry," he said as they broke apart. "I didn't do it on purpose." He glanced around for Zuko while Katara exchanged a quick but fervent greeting with her brother and friends. "Where's Zuko?" Aang wondered, frowning.

Katara grew solemn with the question, her features shuttered. "He was hurt," she replied. "During the battle with Azula, he risked his life to save mine and he was badly injured. I did what I could to heal him, but he still needs to rest. He's back at the palace."

"How is Appa?" came Aang's next anxious question.

"He's fine," Katara reassured him. "He's a little skittish because of all the fire, but otherwise fine. I can take you to him if you want."

Before Aang could open his mouth to accept or decline her offer, however, Sokka was asking, "What about Azula?"

"She's not a threat anymore," Katara said and the tone of her voice made it clear that she was leaving much unspoken. However, before anyone could question her on it, Katara was quickly changing the subject. "What about you guys? Did you…what I mean is…did you take care of Ozai?" She meant it as a general question directed at everyone at the group, but when she asked it her gaze was settled directly upon Aang.

"He's taken care of," Aang confirmed softly.

"Oh…oh Aang," Katara breathed, struck by the solemn edge in his voice. "Does that mean you…that you…?"

"He took Ozai's bending away," Toph supplied quietly. "He's alive, but he's useless. The Firelord, or I should say _ex_-Firelord, is done."

"What?" Katara gasped. "You took away his bending? But how?"

"It's a long story," Aang replied.

"And I want you to tell me everything," Katara told him. "First, I want to take Sokka to meet up with Dad. I heard from some others that he's here in the Capital. And Zuko already gave orders for the war prisoners to be released."

"Does that mean the Kyoshi Warriors too?" Suki pressed.

Katara smiled at her. "Them too," she confirmed. "Everyone. This war really is finally over."

"Okay, well you guys should go ahead and find your dad then," Aang suggested. "Toph and I will stay behind and find someone to secure Ozai."

"Good," Katara said, favoring him with a soft smile. "We'll meet up later and then you and I will have a nice, long talk. Does that sound good?"

Aang had a difficult time biting back his enthused smile. "It sounds great!" He didn't realize he was still grinning even long after Sokka, Suki and Katara had walked away until Toph punched him firmly in the arm, thereby wiping the self-satisfied grin from his face. "Ow!" he cried, rubbing the tender spot. "What was that for?"

"For being such a pathetic loser," she replied tartly. "Now, if you're finished mooning, we have work to do."

Securing Ozai wasn't as simple a task as Toph and Aang first supposed, however, mainly because they met with a series of stops and starts due to their own reunions. They chatted briefly with Teo, Haru and the Duke, as well as the Hippo and Boulder and, eventually, enlisted the help of the two brawny earthbenders in removing Ozai from the airship. To be dragged through the streets of his own Capital in chains by two earthbenders while his people shouted epithets at him was the final indignity for Ozai. His long locks of hair concealed his humiliation as he shuffled, body bowed, between his two guards towards what would be a certain and very lengthy incarceration.

Aang watched the spectacle with a conflicted stare. "I almost feel sorry for him," he mumbled more to himself than to Toph, but still she responded as if he had been speaking directly to her.

"You shouldn't. He was a bad man, Aang, and he needed to be stopped. You did what you had to do."

"I don't regret it," Aang told her. "I only wish it hadn't had to come to this."

"Come on," Toph said, tugging at his arm. "You still sound really tired. Why don't we go up to the palace so you can rest some more?"

Aang lagged behind her in protest. "Wait a minute!" he cried. "Don't you want to hang around for your parents?"

He regretted mentioning her parents immediately. Her features registered pure lonely dejection before they hardened into a stony mask of indifference. "They're not here, Aang," she declared brusquely. "I seriously doubt they'll come at all."

Her unconcerned expression didn't fool him in the least. "Do you want to talk about it?" Aang invited.

"No. I don't," Toph dismissed almost coldly. "Let's go. You're not the only one who could use a nap."

They walked to the Palace together in tension laden silence. Aang wished there was something he could do or say to make Toph feel better, especially in light of how comforting _she_ had been to _him_ the other night. However, he and Toph were fundamentally different in that regard. While he welcomed the opportunity to talk out his feelings, even yearned for it, Toph persistently stuffed her emotions. Preserving an aloof veneer to the outside world and, in some cases even her friends, remained an inherent part of Toph's nature, even when she was in the worst pain of her life.

When both he and Toph finally arrived at the Palace gates, they were surprised to discover that a bevy of servants were waiting there for them. Apparently, in anticipation of their arrival, the recuperating, young Firelord had given instructions that his friends were to be given the royal treatment. "Whatever they ask for," Zuko had ordered, "give it to them. Only the best."

"Only the best" included individual bedchambers, with polished marble floors, lots of natural light and the most immense bed Aang had ever seen, covered in crimson silk sheets and placed on a high dais in the center of the room. Toph, having been raised a Bei Fong, was used to such extravagances. Aang, on the other hand, despite all his travels and experience had never seen anything so grand in his entire life. "Wow…" he uttered in amazement, circling the room with the childish need to touch everything. He glided his fingers over the various furnishings, admiring the glossy surface of the ornate pieces and then, without warning, he pitched himself into the center of the bed with an exuberant "whoo hoo!"

Toph laughed at him. "Wow, Twinkle Toes, you need to get out more."

"I've never seen anything like this," Aang said, sprawling across the soft bed in sighing wonder. "The monks always stressed the importance of living simply."

"Welcome to how the other half lives," Toph teased him.

"I trust everything meets with your satisfaction, young Avatar," the manservant who had escorted them there solicited respectfully. "Can I be of any further assistance to you?"

Remembering himself, Aang made a conscious effort to be dignified and somber. He cleared his throat and scooted from the bed. "Sorry," he mumbled sheepishly. "That was unnecessary."

"Please do not feel the need to apologize," the servant insisted. "Your youthful exuberance is very welcome here after so many years of echoing silence. The Palace has been devoid of laughter and joy for much too long." As if realizing he had said too much, the servant abruptly snapped his mouth shut and a discomfited blush crept up his neck to stain his cheeks. "My apologies," he said with a reverent bow, "for speaking out of turn, Avatar."

"No need," Aang dismissed with a warm smile. "It's nice to know you won't hold it against me for being silly every once in a while."

Though it took a little coaxing, the servant did tentatively return Aang's smile. "If that is all," he said afterwards, "I will escort the young miss to her room as well."

"Wait! May I ask you two things before you go," Aang inquired. When the servant nodded his permission, Aang asked, "What is your name?"

For the second time in the span of five minutes, the servant appeared flustered. Finally, with some bewilderment, he said, "It's…it's Qui, Avatar."

"Qui, would this place happen to have a royal tailor or something?" Aang asked laughingly. He spread out his arms, indicating his shirtless form and bare feet. "I kind of need some clothes."

After the tailor had come and gone with Aang's measurements and the Avatar's very specific instructions for what kind of material should be used in constructing the garment, Aang sank into a hot, steaming bath. Once he was alone, with nothing but his thoughts and a chittering Momo for company, Aang found himself replaying the events of the last few days over in his mind. He slumped in the water, weary, exhausted and yet undeniably relieved…happy. Nothing could possibly make him feel more complete except…Katara. She was thing only thing missing now and, Aang hoped, not for long.

He was dozing in bed when she came for him. In fact, he would have missed her visit altogether if he didn't open his eyes at the precise moment she was tiptoeing away. "Wait!" he called out drowsily. "Don't leave."

"You're exhausted, Aang," Katara reasoned after she turned back to face him. "Zuko's coronation is taking place tomorrow morning. You should rest as much as you possibly can."

Despite her advisement, however, Aang stubbornly pushed himself upright and propped up onto his elbow. "I'd rather talk to you than sleep," he told her quietly. "Stay, please."

As she sighed her acquiesce and came over to sit on the edge of his massively large bed, Aang gathered the sheets more closely about his waist, hoping that the fact he was in bed in nothing but his underwear wasn't painfully obvious to Katara. Aang didn't particularly know why it bothered him this time, as Katara had seen him half-dressed dozens of times, yet it did bother him. It _felt_ different. Everything between them felt different and, given that, he dreaded giving her an inadvertent excuse to leave.

"Tell me what happened with Azula," he pressed when she was settled.

"Not much more than what I told you before," Katara said. "Azula and Zuko had an Agni Kai. She attacked me. Zuko saved my life…or I saved his…it was sort of a mutual thing…and…Azula went crazy. Not much to tell."

"That sounds like a lot to me," Aang remarked.

"Somehow it pales in comparison to dropping off the face of the planet for _three_ days," Katara retorted lightly. "Not even June's shirshu could find you."

"I'm here now."

"That still doesn't explain where you _went_. Where were you?" she demanded a bit huffily. "Why did you disappear like that? I didn't know what happened or…or why you left…if you were mad at me about the fight we had…" She glanced at him with brimming eyes before quickly cutting her gaze away. "I…I wasn't even sure that I would see you again."

Aang placed his hand over hers, ducking his head so that he could see her eyes when he said, "Katara…I would never leave without saying goodbye first."

She swallowed roughly at the reassurance, giving a small nod of acceptance before asking, "So what happened to you?"

"Would you believe me if I told you a giant turtle kidnapped me?"

"What?" she half balked, half laughed.

"It's true," he insisted.

"Aang, be serious!"

"I am being serious," Aang told her. "It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Did you know he's the oldest living creature on the planet _and_ the last of his kind?"

"Wow…you really are serious," Katara breathed, both awestruck and amazed. "How did it happen?"

Frowning, Aang scratched his brow in a contemplative moment. "Well, actually," he hedged ironically, "I don't know what happened. One second I was meditating on what I should do about Firelord Ozai and the next I was on a strange island, floating out in the middle of the ocean."

"Wait a minute," Katara interrupted skeptically. "A strange island? I thought you just told me that a turtle kidnapped you. I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt for disappearing for days with no word, but you're pushing your luck here."

Aang laughed over her disgruntled expression. "I'm getting to that part," he teased her lightly. "Be patient."

It took little more than half an hour, but in that time, Aang managed to recap the events of his two day disappearance. For the most part, Katara digested the fantastic tale with considerable calm. She made a concerted effort to keep her questions to a minimum during his narrative, though there was quite a bit of gasping and jaw-dropping to make up for her uncommon silence. When he was done speaking, she stared at him as if she were looking at him for the first time ever.

"So…this thing, this lion turtle…he's the one that taught you how to…how to…" Katara faded off into silence with a pensive scowl, ineffectually searching for the proper phrasing. "What exactly do you call it, Aang?" she asked him. "What you did to Ozai…what was that?"

"I'm not sure what it's called," Aang replied with a shrug. "The lion turtle never gave it a name. I guess you can say that, technically, he never taught me either. It's…it's like he gifted me with the knowledge of _how_ to do it."

"And what is 'it'?"

"Energy-bending, I guess," Aang decided after some thought. "If I were to call it anything, that's what it would be."

"Wow…" Katara sighed for the second time in less than an hour. "Energy-bending. It sounds amazing."

"It _feels_ amazing."

"So does that mean you can…um…give bending too?" Katara wondered. "I've always wanted to know how to bend air, especially after we went flying together that time."

"I thought you hated it," Aang recalled. "You were terrified."

"I was," Katara admitted. "But it was still one of the best moments of my life…being that free…being up there with you."

"Really?"

Katara felt her cheeks heat under the intensity of his adoring stare and reflexively lowered her lashes in shy response. "I guess I am pretty biased in that regard though," she admitted sheepishly.

"It's okay," Aang whispered softly. "I don't mind."

"So can you?" Katara prodded after they fell into an extended moment of silent stares.

"Can I what?"

"Make me airbend," Katara clarified with a mildly exasperated smile.

She seemed so excited and hopeful about the prospect, it physically pained Aang when he told her, "I don't think it works that way, Katara. I can't give you bending."

"Oh," she chirped, disappointment flickering across her features as she heaved a small, accepting sigh.

"I'm sorry, Katara."

"It's okay," Katara reassured him lightly. "It was just a silly wish."

"Why?"

Katara lifted her shoulders in a noncommittal shrug. "I don't know," she considered. "I guess it was just something else I wanted us to have in common and, well…if I was an Airbender…you wouldn't be the last anymore."

"Oh," Aang replied, uncertain whether he should be inordinately elated about the revelation or temper his desire to read too much into her statement.

She didn't really give him much time to mull it over either way because seconds later she was asking, "So, do you feel any different?"

"No. Not really," he said. "Do you?" Katara froze as he added, "About me, I mean."

Her heart slammed violently against her ribs with the question. She felt inundated with panic and excitement, dread and anticipation as she wondered if this was the moment when she and Aang would finally discuss the monumental changes that had been happening between them since they'd kissed in that cave of forbidden lovers. Katara just knew she was going to make a complete fool of herself. He hadn't even said anything and already her palms were beginning to sweat and her breath coming in heavy, stilted pants.

She felt flustered and clammy and nervous…over Aang. Her playmate, her confidante, her brother, her best friend…the most amazing person she had ever known and also the center of her entire world. The depth of feeling she had for him, the realization of how inextricably linked their lives had become was a bit overwhelming for Katara, leaving her feeling insecure, vulnerable and, most of all, scared.

Unaware of Katara's racing thoughts, Aang, for his part, made a conscious effort not to dwell on the unfinished romantic business between him and Katara. He told himself that when she wanted to talk about her feelings, _if_ she ever wanted to, the move was hers to make. He had already made his intensions and desires clear to her. Now it was Katara's turn.

Consequently, it never occurred to Aang that she was agonizing over that very thing when he clarified, "Do you think I'm weird or a…a freak because of what I can do now?"

"No!" Katara cried immediately, somewhat disheartened that his question hadn't been about their unresolved issues at all. Though she knew it was unfair and even a bit cowardly, she almost wished Aang would bring it up again. He'd already proven himself to be the braver of the two of them when it came to expressing feelings. Katara half hoped that he would do that now, so that the awful knot of anticipation and dread in her belly would finally dissolve.

She wanted to tell him how she felt. She wanted to spill out the confusing jumble of raw emotion churning inside her. Yet, she could not shake the niggling doubt that this was still not the right time. She couldn't be sure and so she kept silent.

"Aang, I could never think you were a freak," she told him. "Why would you even consider it?"

"You have to admit it's a weird ability," Aang argued. "I didn't know if it would make you look at me differently, like I wasn't the same anymore."

Katara reached out to cup his cheek briefly. "I thought you were wonderful before you could energy-bend," she said, "and I think you're wonderful now."

"Ugh," came a disgusted grunt from the entrance of Aang's open bedchamber, "way to lay it on thick, Katara. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little."

"Good to see you too, Toph," Katara greeted blandly as the blind earthbender strode inside. "What brings you by? I thought you were entertaining yourself by pelting rocks at our former Firelord."

"Eh, that got old fast," Toph replied. "It's no fun when he refuses to put up a fight. Besides, I came with a message for you so you should try being nicer to me."

"What message?" both Aang and Katara asked simultaneously.

"Your father is looking for you."

"Dad? Why?" Katara followed up. "Has something happened?"

Toph shrugged before sprawling out dramatically across the foot of Aang's bed. Groaning as her body conformed to the feather down beneath her, Toph swept her arms and legs in an up and down motion, making a satin angel against the sheets. "I don't know the details," she said. "I just brought the message."

"I guess I'd better go then," Katara informed Aang reluctantly. "I think I know what it's about. My Dad's been hinting about wanting to return to the South Pole soon after the coronation."

"So you'll probably be going back home soon, huh?" Aang determined a little glumly.

"Probably," Katara confirmed before adding brightly, hopefully, "You can always come back with us, Aang!"

"Nah," he refused, the nonchalance in his tone incredibly forced. "I don't know. This is your time to be with your family and I don't want to be a tag along." He fixed Katara with a steady, penetrating look. "Unless there's another reason why you want me to come home with you," he prodded softly.

"I…I was just saying that you can if you want," Katara stammered. "And…and I'd like you to…come with us, I mean…if…if you want."

"I'll think about it," Aang murmured evasively, yet again unsure whether he should be happy over the invitation or frustrated and confused.

"Um…okay," Katara replied as she eased to her feet. "I'll catch up with you later and we'll talk so more."

"Okay," Aang responded brightly. However, when she was gone the smile quickly faded from his features and he flopped back into the bed, alongside Toph, with a long, exasperated groan.

As if oblivious to his obvious, frustrated torment, Toph remarked, "Your bed's softer than mine. In fact, your room is bigger too. Hardly seems fair. Wanna trade?"

"Sure," Aang mumbled, turning over face first into the feathered mattress. "What do I care? It's not like I'm ever going to get what I want anyway."

"Oh Aang, why so whiny?" Toph teased airily.

"I'm not being whiny," Aang mumbled. "I'm being reflective. Somberly reflective."

"You're being whiny," Toph contradicted, "But that's okay, because I get it."

"Get what?"

"It sucks not belonging anywhere," she stated bluntly. "Believe me, I feel your pain."

Aang lifted his head a fraction to peer at her through one eye. "Excuse me?"

"That's why you're being all mopey and girly right now," Toph surmised. "You feel like you don't belong anywhere. Well, join the club, my friend. You're a loner, just like me. Best to accept it and move on."

"Yeah, but you like being alone," Aang argued.

"I wouldn't say all that," Toph replied in a guarded tone. "It just is what it is."

"Is this supposed to be a pep talk, Toph?"

"Why? Do you feel pepped?"

"Not really."

Toph responded with an unperturbed shrug. "Eh, you can't win 'em all."

"But you're right," Aang groaned, burrowing his face back into the twisted sheets, causing the remainder of his reply to be muffled when he agreed, "Not belonging does suck."

"So go with them then," Toph suggested. "Why be miserable when you don't have to be? You obviously want to go and Katara definitely wants you there so I'm not seeing what the problem is, Aang."

"It's complicated."

"Why?" she challenged. "Because you like Katara, but you don't have the guts to tell her?"

For the second time in five minutes Aang's head popped up, but this time, completely. "Where would you get that idea?" he brazened out shakily.

Toph gave a sightless eye roll. "Aang, I'm blind. I'm not an imbecile."

"Yeah, well you're not as smart as you think you are either," he retorted. "Not that it's any of your business but…I _did_ tell Katara how I feel."

"_And?_" Toph prompted.

"And she's confused."

Toph grimaced at the revelation, swallowing back her automatic snicker. "Ouch."

"Thank you," Aang grumbled sarcastically. "That helps, Toph."

Despite, her seemingly flippant demeanor, the sympathy she felt over the situation was evident in her next statement to him. "So…uh…I guess my timing was really lousy, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"You and Katara," she clarified, abruptly swinging upright. "You guys were having some kind of love discussion when I walked in, weren't you?"

"I wish," Aang snorted.

"So I didn't interrupt some critically important moment between you two?" Toph asked uncertainly. "You weren't about to confess your undying love or anything?"

"Nope," Aang answered in grim self-deprecation, burying his face once more. "Not even close."


	4. Chapter Three

**A/N: Next update Monday morning. Thanks for reading.**

* * *

**Chapter Three**

The Fire Nation Palace courtyard was alive with a bursting fireworks display and ribbons of colorful streamers in honor of the newly crowned Firelord. A grand banquet had been laid out to all in attendance, a perfect, culinary representation of the varying nations present. It was a celebration meant to foreshadow the Avatar and Firelord's intentions for the world: global peace and harmony.

Katara might have been moved by the display if she weren't so preoccupied with thoughts of Aang. She had spent two scrupulous hours formulating exactly what she would say to him. And then, if that weren't enough preparation, she went so far as to scribble the words on scroll parchment and practice the speech aloud. After much contemplation on the matter, Katara decided that simply blurting out her feelings would not do at all, especially given the last time they had discussed the state of their romantic relationship she had been less than receptive. This time, however, Katara had a plan and she was prepared.

She tried several different inflections, from somber and reserved to giddy and hyperventilating. She was quite beside herself about because, as far as Katara was concerned, this was probably going to be one of the most important speeches of her life. She wanted it to be perfect. Aang deserved nothing less than the best from her. After all, he had given her nothing less of himself.

Her plan was to begin by expressing to Aang how much his friendship meant to her and how, at one time, she had never imagined or even hoped for more. But her feelings had evolved without her even being fully aware of it. She never made the conscious decision that she would love him at all, but simply realized one day that it had happened. She loved him and now she knew it.

Yet, as she sought him out though the crowd of guests, she found herself suddenly tongue-tied and overwhelmed. It was much the way she'd felt when he had stood before the mixed crowd of Watertribe, Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation nationals that morning being hailed for the hero he was. _Wanting_ to say the words and actually _saying_ the words were two completely different things. However, while Katara had difficulty with the actual voicing of her feelings, she had a much easier time with displaying them. She didn't even think to hold back her smiles from Aang and took the opportunity to touch him whenever she could.

When she spotted him, she smiled to herself. He was talking with her brother, father and Suki. Sokka stood with his arm draped around Suki's shoulder while, apparently laughing at something Aang had said. Her father regarded them both with an indescribable expression on his head, shaking his head in obvious amusement. For Katara, it was almost like an omen seeing him standing there with her family. The familial scene helped to settle a big portion of the disquietude swelling in her chest.

"What did I miss?" she asked brightly when she reached them.

With her sudden approach, Aang's heart gave a reflexive lurch, the way it usually did whenever she was near to him. However, it made a sincere effort not to read too much into her warm smile or the fact that she was standing so unbelievably close to him that the backs of their hands brushed. He checked the impulse to lace his fingers with hers. "Sokka was just telling me that Suki's going to be going back home with you guys," he told her.

"She is?" Katara asked. She glanced over at Suki in a mixture of surprise and shock. "You are?"

"I hope you don't mind," Suki said.

"Of course, I don't mind!" Katara cried excitedly. "Being the only girl isn't all it's cracked up to be. I mean, there's Gran Gran, but well…she's Gran Gran," she finished in a disjointed grumble.

After the laughter over that died down a little, Sokka went on to explain, "Suki coming along was kind of a last minute thing. Since we're all going to be busy with the Reconstruction work now that the war is finally over, this is probably the most opportune time for Dad and Suki to get to know each other better."

"Get to know each other better, huh?" Katara repeated, bouncing a sly smile between her brother and Suki. "Now why would you want them to do that?"

"Well, Suki and I _are_ dating," Sokka stressed.

"And?" Katara prodded.

"And what?" Sokka retorted with some annoyance.

"Just admit it, Sokka," his sister teased mercilessly. "You're in love. You're in love with Suki."

"That is none of your business," Sokka sniffed disdainfully.

"Sokka loves Suki, Sokka loves Suki," Katara sang in retort.

The young couple's cheeks bloomed with mutual color. "Cut it out, Katara," Sokka warned between clenched teeth.

"Come on, Sokka," she needled further. "Just say it. I want to hear you, Mr. Machismo Man himself, admit that he was brought to his knees by a female warrior who kicked his butt and stole his heart. Gran Gran's gonna die."

Largely ignoring the majority of Katara's ribbing, Sokka zoomed in on one, particular statement. "For the record, she did not kick my butt." He flashed a desperate look over at his father. "She didn't kick my butt."

"Excuse me?" Suki huffed confrontationally.

After some ineffectual stammering, Sokka finally settled with a murderous death glare at his sister and Aang who was quite unsuccessful at stifling his laughter. "I'm going to get you for this."

"Aww, there's no shame in being whipped, Sokka," she teased further. "Accept it."

"Dad! Make her stop!" Sokka whined.

"Katara, quit aggravating your brother," Hakoda scolded obligingly. "You'd do well to follow his example," he went on in a judicious tone, spurring Sokka to direct a "ha ha" face at his sister, "I've been wondering when you would arrange time for Aang and I to get to know one another better."

His pointed insinuation that something romantic was evolving between them left both Katara and Aang blushing wildly, sputtering for excuses and nervously avoiding each other's eyes. Sokka, on the other hand, had little difficulty speaking up on the matter. "Why do you need to get to know him better?" he wondered aloud. "He's just Aang, a goofy, bald kid with arrows who saved the world. What you see is what you get, Dad."

"Thank you, Sokka," Katara intoned with stiff derision, "for that wise assessment."

Her brother grinned wolfishly. "No problem, little sis."

"Katara said you might be coming back home with us as well, Aang," Hakoda remarked.

Now it was Aang's turn to be put on the spot and he blushed even harder than before. "I…I…well…"

"Dad!" Katara screeched in a low, exasperated tone. "I told you he's _thinking_ about it. Don't pressure him."

"I'm not pressuring him," Hakoda denied. "Aang, do you feel pressure?"

"No," Aang squeaked, though the subtle twitching of his left eye told a different story. "I don't feel any pressure. None at all."

"You see?" her father crowed triumphantly.

"He's too nice to tell you you're bullying him," Katara declared.

"I'm just saying that if he wants to come, then he should," Hakoda replied magnanimously. "I'm quite interested in knowing what his intentions are towards you."

While Sokka burst into noisy laughter over that, Katara sputtered in affront. "Oh…oh…well, that's it! We're leaving!" she announced, placing her hands firmly on Aang's shoulders and nudging him through the crowd, away from her family. When they had gained some modicum of privacy on the fringes of the crowd, Katara wasted no time in apologizing for her father's presumptuousness. "I hope he didn't embarrass you."

"I'm fine," Aang replied. "I'm just wondering if it was more embarrassing for you."

"Well, I'm not exactly ready to talk about it with them," Katara admitted nervously. "I haven't even really talked about it with you yet." She paused to inhale a deep, fortifying breath. "Which kind of brings me around to the _real _reason I pulled you over here…"

Aang was suddenly encompassed with a looming sense of dread. _This is it_, he thought frantically, _this is the moment when she tells me she only wants to be friends._ Theoretically, Aang felt like he was ready to hear it and move on. At least then he would know where he stood. Emotionally, however, he was nowhere even close to that. What he faced now was the prospect of plummeting from an absolute high to an abysmal low. He was not quite ready to let go of the good feeling inside him. There was an undeniable part of him that wanted to run, that wanted to pretend for just a while longer that they had a chance together.

Yet, he didn't run. He stood in place and waited for her to say her piece. He had promised to give her the opportunity to do that, to sort her feelings and make up her mind. And now, apparently, she had done that. Aang supposed the least he owed her was to stand there and listen.

"It's been a crazy year, hasn't it?" Katara remarked with a gentle smile.

"Pretty crazy," Aang agreed tightly.

"Whoever thought when I freed you from that iceberg that we'd eventually find ourselves in this place, this moment…" she went on nostalgically. _Nope_, Aang mused inwardly, _not looking too good for the home team._ "I…I don't think I can possibly put into words how much you mean to me, Aang," Katara continued emotionally, "and how much I value our friendship."

"I value it too, Katara," he murmured softly.

"I know you do," she whispered. "I just want you to understand why it's been so hard for me to come to terms with the fact our friendship was changing.

"The day of the Invasion, when you kissed me…you turned everything upside down, Aang," she recalled candidly. "I felt shaken and chaotic and scared. I mean…we had this good thing, this good, perfect, wonderful thing and I felt like you were jeopardizing that. I honestly couldn't imagine how we could possibly improve on the amazing thing we already had and, honestly, I didn't want to try. What we had was too precious to me to complicate. I didn't want to lose that. I've been really afraid of losing that, of losing _us_."

Aang swallowed deeply, managing to choke out past the forming lump in his throat, "What are you trying to tell me, Katara?"

"I'm trying to tell you that—,"

"—I need to talk to you, Aang," Zuko suddenly broke in breathlessly. However, he was immediately alerted to his abysmal timing when Aang practically wilted on his feet and Katara shot him a quelling death glare. "Did I interrupt something important?" he asked carefully.

"Yeah, you kind of did," Katara snapped impatiently. "You can run along now, Zuko." It had taken her days to work up the courage to tell Aang how she felt and she didn't want to chance losing her nerve now.

"Actually, there's something I need to discuss with Aang," Zuko insisted, checking the urge to wince under Katara's withering glare. "I'm sorry," he blew out in a frustrated huff. "It can't wait!"

"Katara, it's okay. What's going on, Zuko?" Aang asked, as relieved by the reprieve Zuko's arrival had caused as he was frustrated.

Though whatever he wanted to discuss seemed rather urgent Zuko made a point of sliding a meaning look over towards Katara. "What?" she demanded, her annoyance increasing with each passing second. "Do you want me to leave or something?"

"Would you mind?"

His answer was abundantly clear in her militant expression as well as thinning of her lips, but rather voicing the rant that was tripping at the edge of her tongue, Katara swallowed down her ire with a stiff nod. "Fine! Talk to him!" she grated, raking Zuko with yet another contemptuous glare. "But just so you know, he tells me everything anyway!" She turned to Aang, her features softening abruptly when she looked at him. "I won't go far, okay?"

"Okay."

He and Zuko watched as she flounced away before turning to regard one another again. "I'm sorry about that," Zuko said.

"You did me a favor," Aang sighed, "Believe me. What's going on?"

"I just received some disturbing news," Zuko told him. "My father's top general, Gang Huo, has eluded capture. He was my father's right hand, second only to Azula. He is a very dangerous man, Aang. I'm afraid if he's not apprehended, he may try to raise a rebellion in my father's name."

"And you want me to go after him?" Aang concluded.

"I know it's a lot to ask considering…" Zuko said. "But I want this handled as quickly, quietly and as peacefully as possible. I can't think of a better person for the job than you, Aang."

"Do you have any ideas where he might have gone?"

"My guess is he's going to go underground," Zuko replied. "But in order to do that, he's going to need help and a lot of it. Gang Huo has a very visible face here in the Fire Nation. He also has a number of contacts. I would start with them. One of them is bound to know where he's gone and what his plans are."

"What makes you think any of them will talk to me?" Aang asked.

"I'm sending you with my seal so that people will know you're acting on my authority. Anyone who doesn't cooperate with you will be committing treason."

"That seems severe," Aang considered, frowning.

"I have to be," Zuko replied. "Despite what you see here today, not everyone in the Fire Nation accepts me as the new Firelord, Aang. I have to make my authority certain or the peace we both want is never going to happen. It has to start here, with the unification of my people."

"I don't know, Zuko…"

"All I'm asking is that you bring Gang Huo back here to me," Zuko told him. "That's all. _I_ will be the one to deal with him after that."

"Okay," Aang agreed. "I'll make preparations to leave immediately."

"Thank you," Zuko murmured. "I wish there was another way. I didn't want to spoil your good time."

Aang shrugged. "It comes with the job."

However, his dry humor fell flat with Zuko who didn't so much as crack a smile. In fact, his expression became even gloomier. "It's just so frustrating," he bit out. "No matter what we do, it never seems to end, does it?"

Sighing in commiseration, Aang clamped a hand on Zuko's shoulder. "We've got a hundred years of damage to repair," he said. "I think we both know it's not going to happen overnight."

"Yeah, I guess not," Zuko considered grimly. "I'll see you then. Take a messenger hawk to keep in touch."

"I will."

As he was swallowed back into his throng of guests, Katara materialized from the shadows and chirped, "How soon do you want to leave?"

Aang lurched around at her sudden reappearance. "Wow…you're pretty shameless about it, aren't you?" he remarked wryly.

Though she made no effort to deny that she had been eavesdropping on his conversation with Zuko, Katara's shamelessness on the matter was brought into question when her cheeks bloomed with bright red color over Aang's mild censure. "I know it was wrong," she whispered, "but I can't be sorry."

"You shouldn't go," Aang said before she could even begin to make her argument. "I want you to stay here."

It was both a lie and the truth, an act of cowardice and an act of wisdom. He didn't…no, he _couldn't_ be near her when he knew she didn't feel about him the way he felt about her. She wanted their friendship, which in her mind was too perfect to be expounded upon, while there was no denying any longer that he wanted more. The prospect was too painful. He needed to be away from her, at least so that he could get a grasp on it emotionally and mentally. And then he would be okay. If he just had a little time alone, Aang knew he could be okay.

Katara, on the other hand, having come to the very edge of speaking aloud her heart to him, was crushed by the idea that he apparently didn't want her with him. "You don't want me to go with you, Aang?" she surmised in a heartbroken little voice. "Why?"

"It's not about wanting you to go or not wanting you to go," Aang explained gently. "But you've only just been reunited with your father. I know how much having your family altogether means to you. I don't want to break that up, Katara."

"But you're my family too, Aang," she argued. "If you're not here, my family still isn't together."

"It's not the same," he mumbled.

"It's the same for me," she volleyed back. "And I can guarantee it will be the same for Sokka and Toph and Suki. I speak for all of them when I say you shouldn't go alone."

"I don't anticipate being gone for very long," Aang said. "I'll be there with you in the South Pole before you know it."

"Why are you being so stubborn about this?" Katara cried. "Why are you suddenly insisting on doing this all by yourself?"

"It's not sudden, Katara," Aang replied. "I need to stand on my own sometimes. Please try to understand. I need to do this by myself."

"But…but we haven't even had the chance to talk," Katara sputtered. "There's still so much we haven't said to each other, Aang, so much I haven't told you, that I _need_ to tell you…"

"Save it for the next time we see each other again," he told her. "I promise we won't leave anything unspoken."

It was evident that she was unhappy with the prospect, but something in his eyes kept her from giving into her overwhelming instinct to talk him out of it. Obviously, Aang needed to do this alone, for whatever his reasons, and while Katara didn't like the idea in the least bit, she knew she had to respect his decision. "Okay…okay," she finally relented thickly. "Do this by yourself if you need to. But you don't just use that hawk to keep in touch with Zuko. I expect to hear from you too, Aang."

"Deal," he agreed with a ready smile.

However, he barely had time to sigh with relief over her acquiesce before Katara was throwing off his emotional equilibrium once again. Without warning, she threw her arms around him and hugged him fiercely, her face burrowed in the curve of his shoulder. "Be safe, Aang," she whispered warmly into his neck.

He hugged her back, because it was impossible to have Katara in his arms and not hug her back, and for Aang those few, precious seconds were Nirvana. "I'll be safe," he told her, "and I'll come back. I promise."

****

The scene with Katara was repeated no less than two more times, first when he said goodbye to Sokka and then again with Suki. It was evident that Katara was reluctant to let him go. Surprisingly, Toph had remained strangely silent and accommodating about his decision to go alone. Aang found out the reason why when he trekked out to the royal stables with the messenger hawk Zuko had insisted he take and found Toph seated patiently atop of Appa with Momo perched neatly on her shoulder.

"What do you think you're doing?" he demanded crossly.

"Maybe I'm not the only one who's blind here," Toph quipped derisively in rejoinder. "I'm going with you. Duh."

"No, you're not," Aang refuted as he closed the distance between him and Appa. "Get down, Toph."

"I'm not budging from here," Toph declared implacably. "If you want me to get down, you're going to have to come up here and make me." Aang regarded her with narrowed eyes, biting back his frustrated retort. As if sensing his simmering anger, Toph decided to stoke it. She beckoned him closer in obvious challenge. "Bring it, Air boy."

"Ugh…why do I even bother," Aang growled under his breath as he airbended himself up onto Appa's head. "This is a real mission, Toph! I'm not going to play around."

"I know that already! Geez, what climbed up your butt?"

"Nothing climbed up my butt!" Aang snapped back. "I had a plan and you're wrecking my plan."

"Oh, I'm tagging along thus throwing off the delicate balance between you, a flying bison, a lemur and a hawk! The horror! Have you ever considered that two pairs of eyes are better than one, Aang?"

"Toph, you're blind."

"Okay, fine," she huffed. "Two earthbenders are better than one then. There! You happy?"

He snapped an irritated glance back at her. "Why do you even want to go in the first place?" he whined petulantly. "I thought you wanted a vacation! Besides, you hate flying!"

"What else am I going to do?" Toph retorted. "Go to the South Pole with Sokka and Katara? I wasn't invited…well, yeah I was, but it felt like a pity invite so I said no." While Aang emitted a groaning, serrated sigh over that, Toph plodded on. "I could stay here in the Fire Nation, but then I'd be subjected to Zuko angsting over his new position as Firelord every ten seconds. Um, no. I don't hold hands. So…that just leaves you, Twinkle Toes."

"Me?"

"Yeah," she confirmed with a wide, toothy smile. "After all, us loners need to stick together."


	5. Chapter Four

**A/N: It's ALIVE! ALIVE!!! Finally!!**

* * *

**Chapter Four**

"Funny, I thought you'd talk more than this."

The observation was something of an understatement. Until finding herself in a completely one on one environment with Aang, Toph had never realized before that moment how little they'd talked. Training sessions didn't count and neither did kidding around. It had never occurred to Toph before that moment there would be any awkwardness at all. Aang was a natural born prankster and she…well, she wasn't adverse to having a laugh at other people's expense. That was the very reason their dynamic had always worked so nicely.

Unfortunately, Aang didn't seem to be in a joking mood of late and Toph, for all the world savvy she'd gained in the last year, still had not mastered the art of meaningful communication. She had made some strides in the last few months, but she had in no way acquired the skills needed to coax a moody Airbender out of his funk. Toph would have gladly settled for kicking him in the head, especially the way he'd been ignoring her. She sighed heavily, further frustrated when he failed to respond to her earlier statement.

"Are you going to talk to me," she demanded, "or should I just rely on Momo and the hawk to keep me company?"

Aang turned a quick glance over his shoulder towards Toph. She had scooted herself to the very front of Appa's saddle. "Excuse me?"

"Did you not hear a word I just said?"

"I'm sorry, were you saying something? I missed it."

Toph emitted a low growl. "No offense, Aang, but you're boring me to tears."

He wasn't surprised by the declaration. So had been Toph's variant refrain for the last two days and, truthfully, she was beginning to get on Aang's nerves. It's not like he'd asked her to come in the first place. In fact, his desire had been the complete opposite. He had wanted to come on this trip _alone_, to meditate, to collect himself emotionally, to contemplate his uncertain future. Toph's presence made that nearly impossible. Instead of getting himself together mentally, he spent the majority of his hours biting back snappy retorts. And after spending two days virtually tormenting him with sarcasm, she actually had the nerve to complain that he wasn't being entertaining enough? Almost twitching at the irony, Aang closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, waiting, _praying_ for calm and peace to overtake him.

"What exactly are you expecting me to do, Toph?" Aang demanded.

"A break would be nice," Toph suggested. "Fun would be even better." When Aang made no effort to respond to that last dig, Toph's temper began to simmer. "Are you having trouble hearing me over the wind or something?" she screeched obnoxiously. Aang took several more breaths. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" _In and out_, Aang thought, _find the peaceful center_… "Listen, Baldy, don't make me climb down there and kick your butt!" That finally did it.

"What, Toph!" Aang exploded in a flash of frustrated anger. "What?"

"I'm bored," Toph stated succinctly, "and you're not talking to me. It's driving me nuts so do something about it!"

"I'm trying to fly Appa in case you haven't noticed."

"Oh, so now you can't fly Appa and talk at the same time?" Toph challenged. "Is that a new affliction or have you always struggled with that?" She received nothing more than a string of intelligible grumbles in reply. "I'm disappointed in you, Aang. You seriously need to get it together because, thus far, this trip sucks."

"Well, you know, this was never supposed to be a field trip," Aang reminded her sweetly. "If you'll remember no one asked you to come along."

"So that's how it is, huh? I thought you could use my help," Toph grumbled. "Excuse me for trying to be a friend."

The moment she said that Aang felt lower than a garden slug. Here he had been so wrapped up in his own misery it had blinded him to the true reason Toph had accompanied him in the first place. She wanted to help and he'd repaid her altruism with sullen silence. "I'm sorry, Toph," he mumbled contritely. "I know I haven't been the best company. I haven't been in a very good mood lately and I wrongly took that out on you. I promise I'll be better from this point on."

Her response to his heartfelt remorse was not what Aang expected at all. She actually snorted with laughter. "Oh, Aang, you're such a sap sometimes," she chortled. "Don't you know by now when you're getting played? This is one time I really wish for normal sight! Boy, I really had you going! The look on your face must have been priceless!"

In reaction to Toph's unapologetic laughter, Aang's emotions veered crazily once again, from aggravation, to anger, to contrition and back to anger again and all that within a ten minute span. Only Toph could get under his skin so thoroughly. "Great, Toph," he muttered under his breath as he returned his attention to the sky, "I'm glad I could provide you with a laugh. Are you amused enough now?"

"It'll do," she quipped. That statement was met with more disgruntled grumbling. "Oh Aang, don't be like that," Toph teased. She didn't need sight to know he was pouting. His petulant silence was clue enough. "At least you're not thinking about whatever it is that's had you so depressed these last couple of days. That's a plus, right?"

Aang opened his mouth to argue that point, only to clamp it shut abruptly when he realized…she was right. He _had_ been too aggravated to wallow in self-pity lately. Of course, Aang wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. Though he hadn't spent much time obsessing over Katara, he certainly hadn't spent that time happy either. He supposed then that Toph driving him crazy was the lesser of two evils.

Sensing the change in his attitude, Toph tossed out in a sugary drawl, "You can say 'thank you' anytime."

"What? You expect me to thank you for being a p—," Rethinking the wisdom of finishing that sentence, Aang abruptly snapped his mouth closed. "Forget it."

"Being a what?" Toph needled in challenge. "An absolute joy? The light of your life?"

"What I mean to say," Aang amended with a defeated sigh, "was thank you, Toph."

"Yeah, that's what I thought you were going to say." Aang rolled his eyes. "So where are we going anyway?" she demanded a moment later. "I feel like we've been up here for 2,000 years."

"It's only been a few hours, Toph."

"A few hours to go where?" she prodded impatiently.

"General Gang Huo grew up in a Fire Nation town not too far from here," Aang told her. "I thought we'd start there."

"Is that where you think he's hiding?" Toph wondered.

"It's a possibility. His family still lives there."

The other "contacts" Zuko had told him about had proven to be worthless. In the sudden change of political regime, certain Fire Nation high officials were extremely reluctant to associate themselves with anything Ozai related, at least publically. All questions Aang had regarding General Gang Huo were either met with feigned ignorance or stammered declarations of loyalty to the new Firelord. After some serious thought about the whole thing, Aang decided he'd likely have much more success if he started with the general's family instead.

"So what are you going to do, Twinkle Toes? You gonna put a little fear of the Firelord into them?" Toph wondered aloud with an interested smile. "Sweetness! I've wanted to threaten someone with treason ever since the war ended. Terrified people are such a laugh!"

"No, I'm not going to do that."

"So you're going to leave Zuko out altogether then?" Toph ventured. "That's cool. Avatar trumps Firelord easy. Visually you don't inspire much fear, but I'm sure if you give them an energy-bending scare, they'll be begging us to take Gang Huo off their hands."

"No, I'm not going to do that either, Toph!" Aang replied with mounting exasperation. "I'm not going to threaten or bully them at all. I thought I would appeal to their sense of justice instead."

"Their sense of justice?" Toph echoed blankly.

"Right."

"Hmm…okay, let me get this straight…" Toph began in such a way that Aang knew she was about to summarily rip his idea to shreds, "…you're thinking we're just going to stroll up to this guy's childhood home, nicely ask his family if they've seen him, pat their hands and say we care and afterwards they're just supposed to hand him over to us?"

"Maybe they will," Aang considered optimistically.

"And maybe flowers will suddenly bloom out of my butt!"

"Ew, Toph!"

"I'm just saying, Aang, this plan? It's failure on a stick," Toph concluded bluntly.

"How do you know?" Aang cried. "We're not even there yet! You don't even know what I'm going to say to them. I happen to think compassion can go a lot further than scare tactics!"

"How'd that compassion work out for you with Ozai?" Toph challenged.

"It's not the same."

"It is the same," she insisted. "Listen Aang, I know you're all gentle and mild and want the world to hold hands and sing and all that crap, but…get real. Some people in this life you _have_ to bully. If you think you're going to get by restoring balance to the world without having to strong-arm a few people, you're in for a really rude awakening."

"I think you're wrong," Aang replied softly. "I believe kindness begets kindness."

"We'll see if you're right about that."

"I am."

"I hope you are, Aang," Toph mumbled grimly. "I really do."

Fifteen minutes later they were circling General Gang Huo's childhood home, a small Fire Nation town called Changpu, which was tucked in a low, mossy valley between the weathered, looming masses of two dormant volcanoes. It became immediately evident that the community was a close knit and compact one because the moment Aang's bison was spotted overhead, the townspeople began gradually pouring out into the main square as he descended from the sky. The scene reminded Aang vaguely of the welcomes he would receive on Kyoshi after he became known there, only with a lot less warmth.

Their lack of enthusiasm over his arrival was painfully evident when he brought Appa in for a landing. However, for the moment, Aang found himself more preoccupied with his surroundings than the unwelcome expressions on the townspeople's faces. The small province was a mess of scattered, dilapidated earthen huts, which was a stark contrast to the expensively constructed villas in the Palace City. It was obviously a farming community and definitely not reflective of the opulence usually associated with the Fire Nation. It was difficult to imagine that a powerful, ruthless general came from such humble beginnings.

As he and Toph dismounted, a slender man dressed in formal clothing stepped out from the crowd. His dark hair was secured at the crown of his head in a neat top knot. His flowing, crimson robes, while faded and fashionably outdated, were neat and clean and held a certain air of dignity, grace and authority. The man's dress and stature spoke of great importance and that was exemplified in the reverent manner the townspeople seemed to hold around him. At any rate, Aang concluded, he was definitely serving as their spokesperson.

"Welcome Avatar," he greeted formally. "I am the mayor of Changpu. You honor us with your presence. How may we serve you?" Though he spoke of goodwill, but his expression was visibly guarded and mistrustful. In fact, many of his fellow townspeople held a similar air.

Though Aang was unnerved by the throng of people pressing in on them, he hardly betrayed his unease when he announced, "Good afternoon to you, Mayor. I'm looking for a man called Liu Meng. Do any of you know where I can find him?"

Rather than answering Aang's question directly, the mayor decided to pose one of his own. "What is your business with Liu?"

"We need to find his brother Gang Huo," Aang said. "My friend and I are hoping that Liu can help us with that."

"You have wasted your time, young Avatar. Liu cannot help you find Gang Huo," the mayor replied. "He has not seen his brother in many years."

"How would you know that?" Aang demanded skeptically.

"Because I am Liu Meng," the mayor answered. "My brother is not here."

As he started to turn away, evidently intending to end the conversation then and there, Aang cried out, "Wait!" The mayor turned back slightly to face him. "Do you, at least, know where I can find him?"

"I do not," Liu Meng answered. "Good day to you, Avatar."

With his implacable answer, Toph leaned in close to Aang and murmured in a low tone, "Don't let him walk away, Aang. He knows something. I can feel it."

"If it's all the same to you, I'd like to stay here," Aang announced suddenly, causing the mayor to freeze in his tracks, "just in case he does decide to return."

Liu Meng flashed Aang with a narrowed glare. "I have already told you that won't happen. Your wait would prove a waste of time."

"You're lying!" Toph fired abruptly. She had sensed the almost imperceptible quickening of his heart when Aang had declared his intentions to stay. "You know exactly where he is and you have an obligation to tell us!"

"An obligation, you say?" the mayor sniffed haughtily. "No. I am obligated to no one."

"I think Firelord Zuko would have something different to say about that," Toph retorted, ignoring Aang's surreptitious attempts to shush her. "By refusing to help _us_, you're refusing to help _him_! You know what they call that, don't you? It's treason!"

Mayor Liu Meng cocked a single brow, clearly amused by the idea that such a tiny girl would dare to threaten him. "Are you planning to arrest me, little miss?"

"Are you planning to discover just how _not_ little I am?" Toph bluffed tersely.

Not the least perturbed by Toph's combative nature, the mayor shook his head with a light laugh. "Tell me," he began almost conversationally, "how is it that I am obligated to turn over a man who faithfully served his country and Firelord for countless years just so he could be charged with treason and war crimes in the end and spend the rest of his days in prison? Where is the justice in that?"

"I thought you said you haven't seen your brother in years," Toph pressed sardonically. "You seem to show a great deal of loyalty for someone with whom you barely have a relationship!"

"I said I hadn't _seen_ my brother," Liu Meng clarified in a brusque tone. "I did not say we didn't keep in contact. Perhaps, you are too young to understand how strong familial bonds can be, but I don't need to physically be in my brother's presence to love him."

"Enough," Aang interrupted firmly, sensing that Liu Meng's words had cut Toph even deeper than the mayor could have intended. "We haven't come here to disrupt your lives or cause you trouble. We simply need to find your brother. Please, if you know where he could be, you must tell us."

"Why? So you can take him back to the Palace City in chains?" Liu Meng scoffed. "I will not help you, Avatar. Bring me up on charges if you must, but I will not help you."

"Surely you realize by now that Firelord Ozai was a bad man," Aang reasoned. "His regime _needed_ to end. He planned to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground. Your brother had a direct hand carrying out those orders. That is not something the new Firelord takes lightly. Those who supported Ozai's regime need to be brought to justice. It is the only way to restore peace and balance to the world."

"Is your view of the world really so black and white, Avatar?" Liu Meng challenged.

"I don't know what you mean," Aang replied.

"What exactly was the alternative for my brother or any others like him?" the mayor proposed. "To defy Ozai? Betray him? Fight in the resistance? I'm sure you are well aware of what our former Firelord did to his own children. My brother, and many like him, rightly assumed no mercy would be shown towards him if he opposed Ozai. Look at our town! Look at our lives! Surely _you_ can see that none of us here have prospered from the war, not even the Fire Nation. We have all suffered along with the rest of the world! My brother served his nation! He served a man he despised so that his family could be safe! I will not see him punished for that."

"The new Firelord is a good man, a _reasonable_ man," Aang stressed calmly. "I'm sure if General Gang Huo went before him and explained his position, the Firelord would show him mercy. But instead he ran when he knew that all high officials in Ozai's army were to be arrested!"

"Do you honestly blame him? The new Firelord," Liu Meng fairly spit in reply, "is the son of Ozai, scarred and twisted by his sordid upbringing as his father was before him and his father before him! The blood of that same corrupt line runs in his veins! I expect no better from him than I did from Ozai, just more of the same…terror and violence and destruction. It ends now! There is no reason for you to continue here, young Avatar. Go home. I will not help you." He directed a weary glance around the congregation of people flanking either side of him. "None of us will." After that, he walked away and the crowd began to disperse, leaving Aang and Toph alone in the town courtyard.

"Well, that was…what's the word I'm looking for…" Toph considered, tapping her chin pensively, "It's on the tip of my tongue…what is it? Oh yeah, I remember…_failure_! That was failure."

"It wasn't failure, Toph," Aang murmured. "This town has been scarred by the war, just like the rest of the world." He turned a sad look around at the impoverished scene before him. "They need time to heal."

"Time to heal?" Toph echoed slowly before emitting a shuddering groan seconds later. "Oh, Aang…please tell me you're not thinking what I think you're thinking."

"These people obviously need help," he argued.

"That doesn't mean you have to be the one to help them," Toph retorted.

"If not me, then who?" Aang challenged. Because Toph was well aware of the speech that was coming, she mimed along with Aang word for word. "I'm the Avatar. If I'm going to preach peace and goodwill, I have to be just as willing to extend it."

When he was done speaking, Toph hung her head in defeat. "We're not going to leave here, are we?" she surmised dryly. "You're going to force me on some do-gooder mission, aren't you?"

"I just think if we made an effort to show these people a little bit of kindness, they might be more inclined to help us," Aang considered brightly.

"And I just think if we'd played up the treason angle we'd be on our way to capturing some General Gang Huo hiney so we could be done with this mission," Toph countered briskly. "What makes you think any good can come from staying in a town where we are obviously not wanted, Aang?"

"We're going to show them that this new regime _is_ different," Aang declared solemnly. "We're going to show them that they can have hope again."

Toph released yet another longsuffering groan, clearly unenthused with the prospect. "Twinkle Toes, sometimes I wish your heart wasn't so big."

"Trust me," Aang laughed. "This is going to work. I know it."

****

"This isn't going to work, Avatar."

"What?" Aang asked as he loaded the last heavy basket of fruits onto a cart destined for the neighboring town for trade. "Did I miss something? Please say that was the last of the fruit." He was committed to helping, but lifting one more heavy basket might surely kill him.

His philanthropy seemed to have little effect on the mayor, however. He favored Aang with a sour look. "You can't work your way into my good graces," he told Aang flatly, "so you should really stop trying."

Regarding the mayor with an ingenuous expression, Aang swiped a bare arm across his perspiring forehead, catching the salty droplets before they could run into his eyes. Even shirtless and shoeless, the heat was still next to unbearable. Physical exertion had only made it worse. Aang certainly wasn't breaking his back out there for the fun of it, but then he also wouldn't describe his motives as solely for the means of getting into Liu Meng's "good graces" either…not entirely anyway.

"Listen, I'm not trying to work my way into your favor," Aang replied frankly. "I'm just trying to prove to you that you can trust me. That's all. It would be nice if you could meet me half way." His optimistic smile was met with little more than stony silence. "Or not," he amended glumly.

For the last three days, Aang had made a valiant effort to make himself available to the citizens of Changpu. He had helped to erect houses, tended gardens, and assisted the elderly and infirm. He didn't just need to prove to the mayor that he was deserving of his trust, but the entire town. He wanted to forever shatter the idea, if it existed, that he was some far removed Avatar unable empathize with the world's plight, especially those suffering in the Fire Nation. He wanted them to understand that he did know how they felt and he did have every intention of helping them. As a servant of the people, Aang recognized the importance of making himself available to the people. He told Mayor Liu Meng as much.

"You're about 100 years too late," the mayor deadpanned.

"I can't change the past," Aang replied regretfully. "I wish I could. You have no idea how much I do, but I can't. I can only control what happens from this point forward. I want happiness and peace for everyone. Firelord Zuko wants the same thing."

"So much misplaced idealism," Liu Meng laughed softly. "You're still a young man. Of course, you still see the world through naïve eyes. Give it a little time, young Avatar, and the cynicism of harsh reality will eventually creep in."

"Never," Aang vowed. "That won't ever happen to me. I'll always believe that everyone deserves the chance to prove themselves."

"And you'll be burned for it," Liu Meng predicted direly.

"It's worked out for me so far."

"I believe you're sincere, Avatar," Liu Meng said. "I truly believe you want to help and I believe that you believe the Firelord shares your desires. I, however, do not and it is your insistence on trusting _him_ that makes me reluctant to trust _you_…at the very least, reluctant to trust your judgment."

"But you don't even know him!" Aang cried in frustration.

"And you're so sure that you do?" Liu Meng challenged.

"I am. I trust him as a ruler and also my friend."

"I'm afraid I can't share your certainty," the mayor reiterated.

"Perhaps you feel that way now," Aang murmured pensively, "but I have _hope_ that will change in time."

Liu Meng almost smiled over his persevering optimism…_almost_. "No."

Expelling a billowing sigh of disappointment over the mayor's answer, but feeling happy because he felt he'd made at least a little headway, Aang decided to concede defeat in their latest verbal spar. He leaned back into the loaded fruit cart, bending over slightly and loosely bracing his hands against his knees and squinted up at the mayor. "So…what do you want me to do now?" he asked.

Liu Meng swallowed back a stunned laugh. "You're still insisting on going through with this?"

Aang shrugged. "I tend to have a stubborn streak when it comes to issues I feel strongly about."

"Very well," the mayor agreed. "You want more work? Far be it from me to stop you. There's a plow over near that tree," he continued, nodding in said direction. "Take it and till that field out beyond the slope."

Aang emitted a small whimper of disbelief when he beheld the sheer size of the aforementioned, which was, at least, a full acre of land. He surveyed the mayor with an incredulous look. "You…uh…you want me to do that whole thing?"

"Yup, the whole thing," Liu Meng confirmed with a toothy smile. He then passed Aang a tan, canvas bag with a long strap attached. "Here's your seed. Plant two or three per hole. Enjoy your afternoon, Avatar."

"Wait a minute!" Aang cried when he started to walk away. "You're not staying to help me?"

"No, I think I'll enjoy a cup of tea today and curl up with a good book," he answered back as he retreated down the road. "Good day to you, Avatar."

Aang stared at his retreating back, mouth agape. "Good day to me?" he huffed in a disgruntled mutter under his breath. He turned back to survey the sprawling field before him. Though he knew it was probably his imagination, the land seemed to double in size right before his eyes. "I'll never finish the entire thing alone," he mumbled to himself. "This is insane! What was I thinking?"

"I've been asking you the same thing for the last three days now." Aang whipped around to find Toph standing only a few feet away, her lips quirked in an unapologetic smirk. "Truly brilliant plan, Aang," she mocked, her smirk widening as she brought her hands together in derisive applause. "The mayor is definitely starting to soften. Any day now."

"How long have you been standing there?" he demanded, eyes narrowed.

"Long enough to know your plan is made of fail."

"Wow, way to be supportive, Toph!" Aang growled, wrestling hold of the plow to drag it out towards the field. Unfortunately, it was heavy and he made progress in only the barest inches. Toph dogged his every step.

"Why don't you just give up, Aang?" she asked while chortling with laughter. "The mayor is not going to give you what you want this way. You're breaking your back for nothing."

"For your information," Aang grunted as he struggled with the plow, "I happen to _like_ breaking my back!"

As he literally grappled with the plow before her, Toph replied blandly, "I can see that."

After tussling fruitlessly with the plow for several minutes, Toph's amused sarcasm was the final straw for Aang. "Listen, Toph," he snapped impatiently, "if you're not going to help me, then just go away!"

"You mean like this?" Toph asked, swiveling her foot so that the earth beneath the plow easily shifted and rotated, as if being tilled. "Is that enough help for you?"

Her simple solution had Aang slapping a hand against his forehead in groaning chagrin. "Oh yeah, earthbending! Now why didn't I think of that?" He favored Toph with a sheepish, blushing smile. "I was…uh…being a real jerk to you just now, wasn't I?"

"Oh, you're forgiven, Twinkle Toes. Making you feel like an idiot was apology enough."

"Thank you, Toph."

"Honestly, what would you do without me?"

"I don't even want to think about it," Aang replied dutifully.

"Well, come on then," she sighed expansively. "We need to get started if we're going to have this field done before nightfall."

"Before nightfall," Aang bleated in shock. "Wait! You're helping me?" As was quickly becoming the norm with Aang, his mouth fell open yet again. "I thought you said I was 'breaking my back for nothing.'"

"You _are_ breaking your back for nothing," Toph maintained wryly. "But you need help…so I'm going to help you. But I'm not doing this to prove anything to the people in this town, Aang. I'm doing it for you…because it's so important to you. That the _only_ reason why."

Despite her blindness, Toph could feel Aang's stunned and humbled stare burning into her face. She suspected in that moment he didn't know what to make of her. Honestly, she didn't know what to make of herself. Instead of being totally irritated with Aang's willful stubbornness on the subject, she found it strangely admirable. Even while his idea seemed absolutely ridiculous to her and she saw it as nothing more than a huge waste of time, she still wanted him to succeed in spite of that.

However, his shell-shocked reaction to her offer was mildly aggravating. He acted as if she'd never shown him a bit of kindness in the entire history of their friendship! Toph imagined that if she reached out and nudged him with her index finger right then, he would simply topple over. She stamped her foot.

"What?" she snapped, growing more and more self-conscious with Aang's prolonged stare. "Why do you keep looking at me? You have something against help?"

Her tart rejoinder managed to shake him from his stupor. "Uh…no, not at all."

"Then stop standing there with your mouth hanging open and let's go!"

"Yes maam!" Aang responded smartly, snapping a quick salute and scampering after her as she headed towards the field.


	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

"Owie, owie, owie, owwww…" Toph moaned as she crawled from her earthen tent to the center of the makeshift camp she and Aang had set up outside Changpu. Aang sat near the campfire, scribbling out something onto a piece of parchment. Toph sprawled out beside him with a melodramatic groan. "I'm dying. My body hurts all over. Even blinking is pain. Don't touch me." She shuddered. "Don't even _breathe_ on me."

Only the slightest twitching of his mouth's corner even betrayed he'd heard her at all, as he seemed preoccupied with his writing. Toph was so exhausted that she didn't even possess the energy to flick him in annoyance over his lack of attention. Instead, she rolled into a semi-upright position and scowled darkly. Momo, taking advantage of this uncharacteristically mild Toph, seized the opportunity to curl into her lap for an afternoon nap, apparently sensing Toph wouldn't swat him away. She gave his head a begrudging pat. "Just this one time, fur ball."

This time Aang's responsive smile was full grown. As a precaution, he turned his face aside slightly to conceal his amusement. Although Toph was blind, he could never be entirely certain what she could see with her sensory vision and what she could not. Better safe, than sorry, he supposed.

"How much longer do we have to do this, Aang?" Toph whined, interrupting his internal musings. "I'm at the end of my rope here! This is cruel and inhuman."

Already it had been much too long for Toph's tastes. For her, the week had been sheer torture, comprised of plowing, picking, shoveling, shucking, washing and, not to mention, _waiting_ on others. In her whole life, Toph could not recall a single time when she had worked so hard and with absolutely no reward for that hard work either. She was stiff. She was cranky and, if she weren't so certain it would take an act of Providence just to lift her arms, she could have and would have cheerfully throttle Aang since the whole thing _was his fault_!

"That's it! I'm done!" she declared abruptly. "I want to leave."

While Aang had been rather unresponsive to her complaining prior to that moment, that particular statement captured his undivided attention. He set aside his scrolled parchment and inking brush before fixing her with an entreating look. "Toph, please hang in there. I know you're getting frustrated," Aang acknowledged, "but I need you to be patient just a little while longer."

"It's been a week already!" Toph groused stridently. "I don't think you're going to win the mayor over, Aang. We should just make him tell us where the general is!" As she fully expected, Aang didn't respond to that suggestion to that suggestion right away and she knew why. Though it took considerable effort, she managed to temper her mounting irritation with some compassion.

"Aang, I know you don't want to handle things that way," she continued in a much gentler tone, "but what choice do you have? Zuko said this General Gang Huo was a really dangerous man. While you're sitting here trying to woo his brother, the general could be raising an army against Zuko."

"Liu Meng doesn't believe he's capable of that."

"Oh, it's Liu Meng now?" Toph needled.

Aang rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish blush. "I'm just saying the General's brother believes in him."

"Er…that's not exactly a ringing endorsement, Aang."

"Okay then," Aang conceded simply. "I don't believe the General is capable of that. Too many people love and respect him. How could that be possible if he were completely evil?"

Toph found that statement to be incredibly naïve and her sentiment was evident in her next words to him. "Everyone has someone who loves them, Aang. It doesn't mean they can't be the scum of the earth. It just means they're really good at fooling people!" she retorted. "We are wasting valuable time."

"No," Aang refuted with a firm shake of his head. "I have to trust my instincts on this."

"Since when do you have instincts?" Toph snorted.

"I've always had instincts!" Aang threw back in an affronted grumble. "Mayor Liu Meng is a good man. Mistrustful and embittered, but still a good man. He has incredible loyalty for his brother and a deep dislike of Firelord Ozai. There's no way he would go out of his way to protect his brother if he believed Gang Huo was anything like Zuko's dad!"

"But you heard him before," Toph reminded Aang stubbornly. "Remember all that talk about how strong the familial bond is and blah, blah, blah? Sometimes love can blind you to the truth about people. If you don't believe that, look no further than Zuko and Ozai!"

"I don't think this is the same situation."

"That's just because you don't want it to be the same," Toph replied implacably. "You've already made it up in your mind that General Gang Huo is some kind of tragic hero. I'm just saying that it might not be that way. He worked very closely with Ozai for many years. Maybe he's more like our former Firelord than we can imagine. You're too determined to see the good in people, Aang, even if, sometimes, it's not even there."

"That's not what I'm doing, Toph!" he cried in frustration. "Don't you see? If I try and force the mayor's cooperation, I'll just be confirming every negative perception he has about Zuko. That's the last thing I want."

"Is this really about the mayor's negative perception of Zuko or his negative perception of _you_?" Toph demanded bluntly. "I think you should consider the real reason you're doing this, Aang."

Aang inhaled a sharp, affronted breath, disappointed and hurt by her unspoken implication that he was being selfish. He swept up his parchment and resumed writing, his features stony and tight. "I should have known you wouldn't understand what I'm trying to do here," he muttered.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Toph screeched, bolting completely upright and upsetting a dozing Momo in the process. "I came on this trip with you, didn't I? I supported this idiotic decision to double as work mules, didn't I? I've got the aching back to prove it! So please explain to me how I don't understand, Aang?"

"Forget it," Aang mumbled.

She grabbed hold of his wrist firmly. "No, tell me," she pressed doggedly. "You want this to make sense to me? Then talk!"

He stared at the slender fingers gripping him for a long, tension-filled moment before he finally sighed and relaxed in her hold. "Listen, this isn't about me," he began in taut explanation. "This is about the commitment Zuko and I made to rebuild the world. How are we supposed to do that if we don't build _trust_ first?" The question disarmed Toph considerably. Because she had no valid argument against that particular line of reasoning, she kept silent. Reading that silence as encouragement to continue, Aang did so. "Think back to when we first met, Toph. I wanted you to help me, but you couldn't be bothered, remember?"

"Well, I was kind of a self-centered brat," Toph recalled wryly.

"You were that," Aang agreed, earning himself a ringing punch in the bicep for his trouble. Massaging the throbbing spot, he grunted, "But that wasn't the only reason you blew me off, was it?"

"I didn't know you, Aang," she reminded pointedly. "I didn't trust you."

"Exactly!" Aang exclaimed. "You didn't trust me. I had to prove myself to you first. And what happened when you did finally trust me, when I had proven myself?"

"You know what happened," Toph replied in mild exasperation. "We became friends. I ran away from home to teach you earthbending." The focus of his reasoning finally dawned on her then. "Is that what you're hoping for, Aang…that the mayor will eventually accept your offer of friendship and come to trust you?"

"Yeah," he confirmed in a quiet tone. "I have to try it, at least. I honestly believe we'll get further with that approach than with bullying and threats."

"And doing it this way is that important to you?" Toph prompted.

"It's _that_ important," Aang confirmed.

"Okay," Toph relented after a pregnant pause. "I'll give you one more day, but then that's it! If the mayor doesn't cave by tomorrow evening, we do things my way. Understood?"

"Understood."

As he started to reach for his scroll to resume his writing, however, Toph demanded, "What is that you're scribbling anyway?"

"I'm not 'scribbling.' I'm writing letters," he answered distractedly.

"Letters?" she echoed. "To who?"

"I'm writing one to Zuko, updating him on our progress, and one to Katara." A hot blush stained his cheeks when he sensed Toph's unspoken question about the latter. "I…uh…sort of promised that I'd write her regularly, okay," he explained sheepishly.

"Oh…"

"Go ahead and mock me," Aang sighed. "You know you want to."

"No, it's just…wow," Toph whistled. "You guys have barely been together a week and already Katara has you on a short leash…not that you mind it very much. Still, that has to be some kind of record."

"Actually, we aren't together, Toph."

"What are you talking about?"

"Katara and I," Aang clarified. "We aren't together. We're just friends. That's it."

"So that's not a love letter you're writing right now?" she concluded carefully.

"Nope."

"Oooh," she breathed out slowly. Her eyes flared wide with a new realization. "Oooh…"

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing," Toph considered with a shrug. "It just explains why you've been in such a funky mood lately. You never told me Katara shot you down."

"You never asked."

His flippant reply left her frowning because Toph had never assumed she would need to ask. Weren't friends supposed to automatically share that kind of stuff, she wondered. It was a big deal and the fact that he'd failed to mention it bugged her slightly.

"Listen, Aang, I'm sorry, okay," she murmured in genuine contrition. "If I had known you were nursing a broken heart, I wouldn't have given you such a hard time this past week." A beat of silence passed following that absurd statement before she added, "Well, not as much anyway."

"It's okay," Aang reassured her. "You weren't that bad. Besides, I appreciated the distraction…a little."

Unused to providing a comforting shoulder for anyone, but truly wanting to make the effort, Toph asked, "So…um…are you okay?"

"I'm getting there," he evaded softly.

"Wanna talk about it?" she offered.

"Not really."

"Well yeah, if you do…" She let the statement hang meaningfully. Meanwhile, Aang stared at her as if she'd grown a second head. Unaware of that, Toph nibbled her lower lip, a pensive frown creasing her forehead. "So…um…if Katara broke your heart, why are you writing her a letter then? Isn't that sort of like pouring salt on an open wound that's still gushing blood and fluid and—,"

"I get it, Toph!" Aang interrupted quickly. "And, I guess that's one way to look at it," he conceded. "But…well, Katara is still my best friend and I'm closer to her than anyone alive. I miss her. I miss talking to her. Even though things didn't work out the way I wanted, she's always been the person I talk to when I need to sort stuff out. We're that for each other. That's not going to change just because she doesn't return my feelings."

"Yeah, but we're not exactly talking about a crush here, are we?" Toph reasoned astutely. "You're in love with her."

"I never said that!" Aang retorted instantly.

"You didn't have to," Toph deadpanned. "The wild heartbeat and rapid breathing kind of gives it away."

"Oh…" Aang mumbled with a discomfited blush. "Well, it doesn't matter. What I told you is still true."

"That's sweet and all, Aang, but it still seems kind of painful and…awkward," she went on in deeper consideration.

"It is a little," Aang admitted. "But whenever I need someone to talk or…or I need to vent, Katara has always been the person I've gone to. It's just the way it is been between us. There's something deep and meaningful between us that will always be there whether we're romantically involved or not." Toph emitted a shuddering groan. "Sorry," he snickered. "I know how that kind of talk grosses you out."

"So is that what you're doing right now?" Toph wondered. "Venting to her?"

"More or less."

"About what?"

"Just stuff, I guess…" Aang hedged. "This trip, fighting with you…um, how things are going here, how I _feel_ about how things are going here… Stuff like that."

"So you're basically pouring your heart out to her?"

"I suppose."

"Well, I'm here. Why don't you talk to me about stuff like that instead of writing letters to Katara?" Toph wondered a little petulantly.

Aang did a double-take. For the second time in a relatively short period, Toph had stunned him into silence. He felt as if he'd just entered an alternate universe or, at the very least, been sucker-punched. The disoriented reaction was akin to the way he'd felt when she'd kissed his cheek that night on Ember Island. It was weird. Toph did _not_ do kisses and she certainly never offered a listening ear to anyone!

In fact, he had never _once_ entertained the idea of confiding in her, not only because he doubted his feelings would be met with kindness or compassion, but also because he never imagined Toph gave a care. She held an air about her that she was above emotional clinging and actually disdained it. For Toph, stoicism and flippancy were marks of strength, which was why she usually teased Aang for his sentimentality. That was the very reason Aang found the idea of sharing his feelings with him preposterous. Not only was the prospect unappealing, but Aang couldn't even wrap his mind around why she would encourage him to do so.

Simply stated, and it bore repeating, it…was…weird.

Swallowing thickly, Aang regarded her with a wary look, as if he expected her to snort with laughter any moment and declare it all one, colossal joke, but she didn't. Instead she sat there, her gamin features impatiently expecting, evidently waiting on his answer. Though it took several moments, when Aang had finally regained his ability to speak following Toph's incredible question, he croaked candidly, "Uh…um…I was never under the impression you were all that interested in my feelings, Toph."

"I'm asking, aren't I?" she retorted, exasperation raising her tone to a discordant pitch. "We're friends! Of course, I interested in what you feel, Aang!" She voiced the declaration as if the conclusion was blindingly obvious and it would have been…if she wasn't Toph.

Aang was at a loss as to how to respond. "I…well…yeah," he stammered thickly. "Yeah, we're friends."

"And friends talk about stuff, right?" she prompted meaningfully.

Though he was growing more and more uncomfortable with the odd direction of their conversation, Aang suspected not answering would produce more discomfort and so, he dutifully played along. "You're right, Toph. Friends _do_ talk."

"That's what I'm saying. They're supposed to share their feelings and hopes and dreams and all that crap, you get me?"

"Uh…you have feelings, Toph?" Aang wondered, utterly confused.

"What am I? A rock?" she exploded impatiently. "Yes, I have feelings, you nut brain! And right now I'm inviting _you_ to share _yours_ with me, so…share!" When his response to that was markedly delayed, she crossed her arms with an impatient huff. "I'm waiting!"

"Um…wow, Toph," Aang replied rather weakly as he edged himself away from her in minute measures. "That's a really tempting and generous offer and everything, but I'm going to have to pass on that. Thanks though." He took up his inking brush to resume his letter, deciding he would mention Toph's odd behavior to Katara as well.

Aang hadn't meant to offend Toph with his refusal and, had he known, he would have been profuse with his apologies. Unfortunately, offend her was exactly what he had done. Not just offend her either…he had hurt her feelings, because she was making a genuine effort to make herself available to him. She was trying to follow his example and help others, help _him_. The fact that he'd outright rejected her offer smarted more than a little. Consequently, Toph reacted as she usually did when wounded, she lashed out.

"So basically you'd rather be pathetic and confide in a girl who, despite the fact you're crazy in love with her, basically told you that she'd never see you as anything other than a friend?" she derided incredulously. "You know what, Aang? I don't care anymore! Make yourself look like a complete imbecile, if that's what you want!"

The harsh words spewed from her lips like a molten river, spurred on by her hurt feelings. She honestly didn't know why she cared. Yet, in spite of her desperate desire to be indifferent, she wasn't. It bothered her greatly that Aang couldn't…_wouldn't_ talk to her, that after all this time and all that they'd endured together, he still held her at a distance. She had honestly expected them to be closer than that by now.

However, where Toph hid her pain and confusion behind a lacerating tongue, Aang laid his hurt completely bare. He shrank away from her, lips tight, eyes glistening with sudden tears. "Well, okay…" he finally managed to utter gruffly, "…since you think I'm so pathetic, you don't have to worry about me saying anything to you ever again!"

The moment he rolled to his feet, evidently with the full intention of walking away from her, Toph cried out before she could stop herself, "Aang, don't do that!" He froze mid-step, but did not turn back to face her. "I'm sorry, okay," she mumbled thickly. "I'm sorry I said that. I didn't mean it."

"Yes, you did," he refuted.

"No, I didn't," she insisted. "Come sit back down. Please."

He was reluctant to do so and that was evident in his halting gait as he closed the distance between them, but Aang was not left unaffected by the imploring edge in Toph's tone. Besides that, she rarely said "please," if ever. Aang supposed he could give her the benefit of the doubt for that, at least. He settled himself adjacent to her, about a foot away. "What?" he demanded warily.

"That was out of line," she began, "what I said to you."

"Yeah, it was," Aang agreed. "So why'd you say it?"

"Why do you find it so easy to talk to Katara, but not to me?" Toph demanded plainly.

"Do you really need to ask that?" Aang snorted incredulously.

"Yeah, I do!" she retorted. "Listen, I know I'm no Sugar Queen. I'm probably not the easiest person to talk to and I could stand to be a little more sensitive to you…I know that! But I care about you too, Aang! I'm your friend too." She seemed to shrink inside herself then, revealing the depth of her hurt and confusion. The moment was fleeting; just a flash of vulnerability and powerful emotion, but it was enough to leave Aang breathless. "You should want to talk to me. Don't you want us to be closer?"

"Closer?" Aang parroted dumbly.

"Yeah, closer," Toph reiterated. "Look, I'm new to this whole friend deal. I'm still figuring out how it's supposed to work, but…I'm pretty sure getting closer comes with the territory. Am I wrong?"

"No, you're not wrong."

"Then what gives?" she wanted to know. "Why do you treat the idea of talking to me like it's the most ridiculous and unwelcome idea in the world?"

His mouth fell open. "You're being absolutely serious right now, aren't you?"

"YES!"

"Toph...give me a break! You said it yourself," Aang whispered in accusation. "You're obnoxious and rude and you can be flippant when it comes to my feelings! Why would I want to talk to you after _that_?"

"But I'm just joking with you, Aang," Toph replied in genuine surprise. "You have to know that."

"No, I don't," he retorted.

"Oh, you're just being a sensitive cry baby about the whole thing!" she snorted.

"See!" Aang cried. "That's _exactly_ what I mean!"

"Well, you are," Toph insisted brashly. "And you just called me obnoxious and rude so I think that makes us even!"

Aang opened his mouth to argue that point only to shut it quickly when he realized he had no rebuttal. His bluster and fight deflated immediately. "I…uh…guess you're right about that," he conceded gruffly. "So you were saying…"

"Look, you know how I am, okay," Toph replied in a soft, uncomfortable tone. "I know how you are. We're not going to see eye to eye about a lot, but you have to know that if you're in trouble, if you're hurting, if you need someone…I'm here for you."

"And you _want_ me to confide in you?" Aang asked slowly. "That's what you're getting at, right?"

"Duh! Have you been listening?"

Belatedly realizing that impatience and sarcasm weren't going to go a long way in winning him over to her point of view, however, Toph decided to take a different tactic. Though she felt a little nauseated at the prospect, she knew she was never going to get Aang to understand her point until she made herself vulnerable to him. In retrospect, the theory made sense. How could she honestly expect him to bare his soul to her if she couldn't reciprocate?

"Aang, listen to me," she began again, her voice trembling a bit as she spoke, "You're a big part of my life now, a _really_ important part. I want to know you the way Katara knows you. I want you to feel comfortable talking to me…the way I feel comfortable talking to you."

"B-But you don't talk, Toph," Aang pointed out hesitantly.

"That's not the point!" she cried in frustration. "I know I could if I wanted to. I know that if something were really bothering me enough to whine about it, I _could_ come to you and I would because I know you would listen to me. Because I know you care about me."

"So you insulted me to encourage me to talk to you?" Aang surmised dubiously.

"Well, when you phrase it like that, it sounds completely idiotic!" she ranted.

Inordinately moved by her willing vulnerability, Aang scooted closer to Toph and reached for her hand. "Why is this so important to you, Toph?"

"We're friends," she said simply. "It just…it hurts a little to think you can't talk to me."

"It's nothing personal, Toph," Aang assured her. "You've always seemed so brash and disdainful about stuff like this, like…like you didn't have the time or patience for it. I never imagined you'd care either way."

"Well, I do care," she informed him. "I'm not going to pretend like talking about feelings makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. It doesn't. In fact, it makes me want to put a hot poker through my eye. But…if you _need_ that…if you sincerely need someone to talk to, Aang…I _am_ here for you and I really mean that."

"I know you do," he whispered.

Toph blinked back the sudden tears forming in her eyes, feeling like a complete idiot. "Ugh," she grunted. "This is so hard." She shuddered. "I'm getting lightheaded."

"You're fine," Aang laughed, stunned and amazed that she was so willing to humble herself in order to make her point. That, to Aang, spoke perfectly of her sincerity on the matter.

"I don't want this to turn into a gush fest or anything, but you need to know …I'm not your friend because I have to be or because circumstances threw us together," Toph told him. "I'm your friend because I _want_ to be, because I…because I…" Her words faded off into nothing around a rough swallow before she took a deep breath and simply blurted, "I love you, Aang!" She tugged her hand from his grasp so that she could drag it down the length of her face. "Ugh, that made my eye twitch!"

"Wow, Toph," Aang chuckled in a mixture of stunned disbelief and sentimentality, "if it's that important to you, I promise I'll make an effort to talk to you from now on. I don't ever want you to feel like I don't appreciate your friendship because I do."

"Good. And I'll meet you halfway. I'll try not to make the prospect seem so unappealing," she countered magnanimously, "emphasis on the word _try_."

"Any effort you make is greatly appreciated," Aang told her. "And for the record…I love you too, Toph."

"No, no," she said, waving her hands as if warding off some bad omen, "don't you _dare_ start that! Look, we both know where we stand now. I'm okay with you, you're okay with me. There's no need to go any further than that." Aang laughed again and reached over to lightly punch her in the arm, Toph's preferred brand of affection. She smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks," she whispered, "for being so understanding and forgiving when I was a jerk to you."

"Don't worry about it," he whispered back. "I've been a jerk to you plenty enough times in the past. I'd say we're even. Besides," he continued with a blooming smile of affection, "that's just what friends do for each other."

****

"I need your word, Avatar."

Aang's eyes flashed open to find Mayor Liu Meng looming above him. His first instinct was to panic, because it was late at night and the entire camp was asleep. He scrambled up onto his elbows, vaguely noting the mayor was alone and clothed in only in his pajamas. In the flickering light of Liu Meng's single torch, Aang could make out the dark, fatigued circles under the mayor's eyes. It was evident the man hadn't slept much that evening. It was a direct contrast with Aang's own camp, which came alive in regular intervals with the sound of Appa and Momo's tandem snoring. Aang glanced over to Toph's earth tent. For all the upset, her entrance remained tightly sealed. Even Toph, with all her sensitivity to movement, was sleeping soundly. Aang returned his questioning stare to the mayor.

"I took special care not to disturb them," Liu Meng told him softly.

Relaxing as the gossamer tendrils of slumber finally fell away; Aang pushed himself upright completely and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Mayor Liu, it's late," he began gruffly. "Has something happened? What are you doing here?"

"You've accomplished your task, it seems," Liu Meng said.

"My task?" Aang echoed blankly.

"You wanted me to trust you and now…I do," the mayor confessed stiltedly. "Now you need to prove to me that my trust is not misplaced or misguided."

"It's not," Aang swore.

"Think carefully about this, Avatar. Before I tell you were to find Gang, I need your solemn promise that you will deal fairly with him," the major prefaced. "You must listen before you act. Promise me this."

"I promise," Aang whispered. He reached out to touch the mayor's shoulder. "This isn't a betrayal, if that's what you're thinking."

Liu Meng regarded him with a penetrating stare. "That remains to be seen."

"If you don't feel you should trust me, then you shouldn't do it," Aang advised him solemnly. "I won't think less of you if that's your choice."

The mayor struggled visibly with the decision before finally slumping forward with a deep sigh. "I trust you, Avatar," he said again, with more conviction than before. "Find my brother. Help him…please."

Aang answered with a sincere nod, elated, surprised and humbled all at once. "May I ask what changed your mind?" he wondered. "I've been working like a crazy person for a week now. What exactly did I do to make you realize you could trust me?"

"_You_ didn't do anything," Mayor Liu Meng told him. "It was your girlfriend who convinced me."

"My girlfriend?" Aang parroted. "You mean Toph?" He almost guffawed aloud at the very idea. "She's not my girlfriend! She's my friend. That's all!"

"I didn't realize," the mayor murmured apologetically. "I thought you two were much closer than that."

"Well, we are close," Aang acknowledged, "but we don't have that kind of relationship. There's someone else."

The mayor bit back a smile. "Hmm…maybe you should rethink that. Not many girls would do for you what she's done without any romantic motivation," he considered. "In fact, that speaks a great deal about her character and actually inspires my admiration all the more. Your friend Toph is an amazing young woman. You should treasure her, young Avatar."

"I…I will," Aang stammered in gauche reply. "I mean, I do."

"When I saw how she was willing to help you, in spite of her misgivings on the matter," Liu Meng recalled with a smile, "it moved me. I could see that she obviously cared about you very much to continue to support you in a decision with which she didn't agree. I thought if you could inspire such loyalty and affection in _her_, you must not be a bad sort after all." Aang stared in transfixed thoughtfulness at Toph's earth tent, his mind swirling and echoing with the mayor's sincere confession.

After he'd supplied Aang with the general's location, Mayor Liu Meng slipped from the camp as quietly as he'd slipped in. The moment the darkness swallowed him completely, the entrance to Toph's tent slid open and she poked her head outside. "Did you all hear that, Twinkle Toes," she teased with a wide grin, not the least bit embarrassed over having eavesdropped on the entire conversation. "You should _treasure_ me. I expect to be treated a lot better from here on out."

"No problem, Toph," Aang agreed with a quiet laugh. "You deserve it."

"You bet I do!" She paused a moment, her forehead creasing. "And…um…all that nonsense about rethinking the nature of our relationship?" she added with a rather disgusted scowl, "Not in five million years. Don't even go there, Twinkle Toes. Just…eww…"

"Trust me, Toph, it was never a possibility," Aang replied with the utmost seriousness.

"Good," she said after a beat of silence. "G'night."

"Night."

However, long after she'd retreated back into her tent and shut the door tightly behind her, Aang found himself unable to fall back asleep. Instead, he curled onto the ground and listened quietly to the sounds of the night, restlessly meditating on the mayor's candid words.


	7. Chapter Six

**A/N: Sorry this took so long. The family is sick. Don't you just love flu season?**

* * *

**Chapter Six**

"Wasn't it nice of the Changpu townspeople to send us off with supplies?" Aang remarked when he and Toph were airborne the following morning. "We've got more food than we could possibly eat!"

Toph's forehead wrinkled in a thoughtful frown. Though she barely shifted from her relaxed pose with her feet propped up and hands tucked loosely behind her head, she was on instant alert when she answered Aang. "Yeah, it was nice," she replied in a deceptively neutral tone. "Maybe we'll go back and visit sometime." Despite her seeming casualness, however, Toph's mind was churning. Her instincts screamed that Aang was gearing up for a discussion that she most certainly would not like.

"They actually made us honorary citizens, did you know that?" he continued on in an awestruck tone. "We must have really made an impression on them for that to happen!"

At that, Toph slowly swung into an upright position. "I suppose we did."

"You know, they're really counting on us to be fair to General Gang Huo when we find him," Aang said. "In spite of everything, the townspeople still have a great deal of respect for him."

"Oh brother," Toph groaned in a low tone. She leaned over the edge of Appa's saddle so that she could be heard over the wind when she said, "You're doing it again, aren't you? Aang, I thought we already settled this!"

"What?" Aang demanded, but the guilty edge in his tone was plainly detectable.

"You know what!" Toph accused him. "You're already building this Fire Nation general up in your head as some great guy in need of mercy. Aang, snap out of it! The man is a war criminal! He's one step below Azula! _Azula!_ You can't allow yourself to be swayed by emotion."

"I'm not being swayed by emotion," Aang retorted. "I'm just saying that maybe he isn't a completely heartless monster, okay!"

"And that means what exactly?" Toph challenged belligerently. "So what if his heart is completely shriveled and black? Hoorah. Should we give him a fortune cookie or something?"

"Toph—,"

"No, don't give me the speech," she interrupted stubbornly. "You listen to me for a change. Here's how it is. General Gang Huo was Ozai's top general. He held that position for a reason, Aang. I doubt Ozai promoted him on his good looks or winning personality! They didn't weave baskets together! The General did his job and he did it well."

"Yeah, but what choice did he have?" Aang mumbled.

He imagined his words were too low for Toph to hear, but, being Toph, she heard them anyway and her reaction was swift and vehement. "He had the same choice that you and I had, Aang," she countered brutally. "The same choice as Sokka and Katara and Suki _and_ Zuko and we're all kids! As much as I like and respect Mayor Liu Meng, we can't show the General leniency based on our feelings for the mayor."

"That's not what I'm doing," Aang denied hotly.

"It so is!" Toph flung back. "I don't even know why you're agonizing over this! It's not your problem anyway! Our only job is to deliver him to the Fire Nation. _Zuko_ is the one who decides his punishment after that."

"Why does there have to be a punishment at all?" Aang bemoaned unhappily. "He's been stripped of his military rank, ostracized by his people and left with absolutely nothing. He's a wanted fugitive! It's not like he can ever go home again! What more is there?"

"Um…to send him to prison where he can befriend his fellow rats?" Toph ventured with a marked lack of sympathy. "Even furballs need friends, Aang."

"Wow, you're all heart, Toph," he muttered.

"And you're a pushover," Toph grumbled despairingly. "You need to man up or that soft heart of yours is going to get you killed one day."

"Well, I'm sorry can't follow your example and be completely unfeeling, Toph!"

She didn't even flinch at the insult, but merely blew a sliver of hair from her eyes in growing annoyance. "It has nothing to do with being unfeeling," she argued, "and everything to do with being smart! Not everyone is a good person, Aang! Not everyone deserves a chance!" He didn't answer and she imagined he was sitting atop Appa's head, completely rigid, much the way she became whenever Katara annoyed the spit out of her. "Listen to me, Aang," she cajoled on a sigh. "You…You can't be so open all the time. It's not good."

"Like you care," he muttered.

She narrowed her eyes, masking her hurt behind a flippant comment. "Well, if getting figuratively kicked in the gut is your thing, who am I to knock it?"

It wasn't that she was indifferent. Toph had been fully prepared for Aang's emotional conflict. Ever since the mayor had finally confessed his brother's secret coordinates in an underground bunker deep in the heart of the Earth Kingdom, Toph had known that Aang was already making up his mind to give General Gang Huo a pass. With all the tales the townspeople had recounted concerning the general's boyhood exploits as well as his acts of heroism towards them during the war, it was little wonder Aang held such an idealized vision of the general. Even she had nearly been swayed by their proud accounts.

But at the heart of it all, one thing continued to ring clear for Toph: during the war and Ozai's unrelenting reign destruction, General Gang Huo had a front row seat to it all and he had never, not even once, lifted a finger to stop it. He had stood aside silently as Ozai had dismantled town after town and decimated home after home. Good man or not, he had definitely been a coward, which made Toph question whether the man had ever been a hero at all or if he was simply masquerading as one.

However, when she mentioned that consideration to Aang, while he acknowledged her concerns, he seemed disinclined to lend them much credence. He didn't want to judge the general on past decisions made under duress. He was staunchly determined to give the General an opportunity to speak his piece. Unfortunately, his position put him in direct opposition with Toph, who was of the mind that the General's past actions during the last twenty years of his military career had already said more than enough. As a result of their inability to see eye to eye on the matter, by the time they broke camp for the evening, Aang and Toph were not on speaking terms.

The silence lasted through until their next stop and beyond setting up camp. By the time dinnertime had arrived, Toph was spent of her last reserves of patience. Abruptly, she slammed down her bowl of rice and fruit with a frustrated growl. "You're being a baby about this whole thing, you know that?"

Her combative declaration only fueled Aang's simmering anger. He fixed her with a narrowed glare. "Of course, you think I'm being a baby," he patronized, "because I don't agree with you!"

"No, I think you're being a baby when you _act_ like a baby," Toph retorted with blazing sarcasm. "All you need now is someone to tuck you in bed!"

"Who do you recommend?" Aang snapped back.

"Are you calling me a baby?" Toph challenged dangerously.

"You're the one throwing a fit right now, not me!"

"Maybe because your naïve sentimentality is going to get us killed!"

"You didn't seem to have a problem with my 'naïve sentimentality' when I faced Ozai!" Aang flung back. "You trusted me then!"

"It's not like I had much choice!" Toph retorted. "You were off partying with a lion turtle, remember? Besides that, you can't handle every situation the way you handled Ozai, Aang!"

Once more, she'd made her point and it grated with Aang. Deeply. For that reason alone he felt the need to put _her_ on the defensive. "Seriously, Toph, I don't get you at all," he huffed. "Weren't you the same person preaching leniency for Zuko when he came to us at the Western Air Temple?"

"You _needed_ to learn firebending," Toph stressed, "It was critical and Zuko came to us at the right time. It's not like we were in a position to be choosy, Aang, so of course I wanted you guys to get over yourselves and let him join the group. It was a means to an end!"

On the edge of the camp, Momo and Appa cowered as the fight escalated, growing louder and more emotional. Momo buried his body in Appa's thick fur while the bison, in turn, tucked his snout between his paws. Neither Aang nor Toph noticed their disquietude. They were too busy squaring off.

"Wow…a means to an end? Did Zuko know you felt that way?" Aang demanded in a slightly appalled tone. "Did he know your offer for friendship was motivated by pure selfishness?"

"Selfishness?" Toph scoffed. "I was doing it for you!"

"So that makes using other people perfectly okay," he concluded with dripping sarcasm. "So long as it's a noble cause!"

"Oh, get off your high horse, Aang! I doubt he cared either way," Toph scoffed. "He was all about kissing your butt, remember? Zuko could have cared less about having our approval, but he knew if he made friends with us, he'd pave a way to you! We were a means to an end for him too. That's just how the world works, Aang! Besides, we all ended up friends in the end, so who cares?"

"I care," Aang mumbled, "and I don't work that way."

"Well, la dee dah."

"That's what everything is about for you, isn't it, Toph?" Aang wondered in disappointment. "A means to an end? Don't you care about anything at all or are you only interested if the outcome benefits you somehow? What about compassion? Forgiveness? Mercy?"

The questions chinked away at Toph's emotional armor, made microscopic dents in the protective wall surrounding her heart because she _did _care. Toph had come a long way from the self-involved brat she'd once been and she cared about _him_. However, while she admired Aang's capacity for forgiveness and fairness and was even a little inspired by it, she also found the quality to be one of his greatest faults as well. That was the very reason she was trying so hard to talk reason into his idealistic head! He was just too stubborn to see it and, at that moment, she was too angry to set him straight about it.

"Do you want another war, Aang?" Toph demanded pointedly. "Have you forgotten that Sozin was able to wipe out your people because Roku showed him _compassion_, _forgiveness_ and _mercy_? Thousands of people died, _an entire culture died_ because Roku wanted to be merciful. Great, wise being or not, it seems like, no matter what incarnation, you make the same mistakes over and over, _Avatar_!"

Toph had gone too far and she knew that, even long before Aang pushed set aside his dinner bowl and stood up. However, she was unwilling to take back a single word. He needed a dose of reality…even if he didn't want it.

As the vibrating outline of his stiffened form disappeared into the cluster of trees beyond the camp she called after him angrily, "Yeah, walk away, Aang, because that solves everything! Don't hate me because I won't coddle you, okay! It's about time you woke up to the truth!"

****

Aang didn't return to camp for many hours. In the first hour, he'd simply been too angry and frustrated to do so. He liked to think he was nonviolent by nature, but…Toph really knew how to get under his skin. By the second hour, he had calmed down considerably, but still the idea of facing her was not pleasant. He was a great deal more serene, but no less angry. Additionally, he knew she'd likely be on his case again within seconds of his return and Aang simply wasn't up for another round of vicious fighting and insults.

She wasn't the easiest person to get along with and, consequently, she was driving him crazy.

It wasn't a first time realization either. He and Toph had butted heads almost from the moment they'd met. Well, _she_ had butted, Aang amended to himself, and he had done his best to keep out of the line of fire. Unfortunately, that technique wasn't working as well as it used to. He kept dodging, but she kept coming at him…almost relentlessly. Aang felt as if she were trying to force him to see things her way. He found her methods both repellent and aggravating. If he had hair, he'd likely be pulling it out in clumps by this point.

She challenged and questioned every single thing he did. Not only that, she questioned his very moral fiber…scoffed at it. His values and ethics were laughable to her. That fact was something Aang had resigned himself to long ago and he could live with it, were it not for the criticisms. Monkey feathers, her criticisms…it seemed like she never ran out of them! What he was doing wrong…what he could do better…why he wasn't doing it as well as her. It never ended. She was especially vocal about the business with General Gang Huo and she wouldn't let up.

However, her persistence wasn't the worst of it. The worst of it was that, somewhere deep within himself, Aang knew she was right. For all her obnoxious, brutal reasoning on the matter, her constant belittling of his feelings concerning the matter, she was absolutely right. He _was_ closing his mind to the possibility of the general's evil nature and he knew it. It's not that he suspected the General to be some horridly evil man. It was simply that Aang was unwilling to _let_ himself suspect it. He was in complete, total denial and he knew exactly why.

It was too soon for him. Too soon after the war. Too soon after Ozai. Too soon after letting himself believe he might actually have the chance at a normal existence, even if only for a short while. Though everything had worked out as it should have, the struggle to get there had been wearisome and full of trial and, even on the other side, there was still much work for Aang to do. In the aftermath of the war, the world had been left ravished and disorganized in the wake of 100 years of oppression. He had, ahead of him, the daunting and immeasurable task of healing that world. And while Aang was happy and relieved that the war was over, he was also tired. He was so tired and desperately wanted to believe in something good again.

He wasn't sure if his feelings stemmed from the fading euphoria of having defeated Ozai, the bittersweet satisfaction he harbored over the victory or the fact that all his hopes for a future with Katara had been dashed. Perhaps, it was a mixture of all three. Whatever it was, Toph had managed to slice through all that pretense straight to the heart of what ailed him.

She saw past the façade and she called him on his fear. No apologies. No hesitation. Somehow, she had managed to see that part of him that Aang was careful to keep remote and distant, that dark, disillusioned part of himself that he rarely even acknowledged. He resented her for revealing the naked truth of it all. He resented himself for being uncertain at all, for being afraid and for running away…again. In the end, Aang knew he had no one to blame for that but himself.

When he shuffled into camp a few hours before daybreak, Momo scampered over in welcome, but thankfully Toph was nowhere in sight. Her earth tent stood in the center of the camp, but she made no move to exit it, for which Aang was grateful. Not much was different from the previous night. Toph had not bothered to clear away the remnants of dinner and, consequently, their bowls were crusted with dried food and swarming with flies. With a marked lack of enthusiasm, Aang went about the business of cleaning up.

Half an hour later, he dropped down before the desiccated pit where the fire had burned the previous night and Momo darted up onto Aang's shoulder and curled his furry body around the crown of his master's head. Aang reached up to scratch him behind the ears. "Thanks, buddy," he whispered. "It feels good to be loved."

Expelling a morose sigh, Aang reached into his pack nearby and pulled free a small jar of ink, parchment and a tiny writing brush. In the calm solitude of the dawn, Aang began penning a letter to Katara, the first he'd written in days.

_Dear Katara,_

_I received your last letter and I'm glad to hear your Gran-Gran and Master Pakku are doing so well. I'm not surprised to hear Master Pakku has started a school for waterbenders there. It was inevitable, I guess. Tell him that I'm not so sure if I'm ready to teach anyone though. I'm still learning myself. Besides, he can't possibly have a more excellent instructor than the one he has in you. Congratulations, by the way. You always were my favorite teacher and I'm sure your new students will likely feel the same. They're lucky to have you._

_I probably should have written to you sooner to say that and I'm sorry haven't. It's been busy. Mayor Liu Meng finally decided to tell me where to find his brother. Toph and I are on our way there now. He's in a secret location deep in the Earth Kingdom, so it might be some days before we reach there. I'm apprehensive about what awaits us and, in the meantime, I try not to think about it too much._

_You'd think I'd feel some sense of satisfaction that all this will wrap up soon, but I don't. Honestly, I feel a little lonely and lost and very confused these days. Toph and I fight all the time, it seems. It's strange. There are things about her that are completely amazing and admirable, things I probably would have never known had we not taken this trip together. She surprises me every day, but at the same time, she drives me insane. I don't know what to make of her and I don't know what to make of how chaotic she makes me feel. I'm thinking maybe she shouldn't have come with me. I wish it had been you. I miss you._

_And I know what you're thinking; you offered and I said no. I still stand by that. You should be with your family. You should have this time with them. I don't regret that, but it doesn't make me miss you any less. Maybe that's because I've become too dependent on you. Maybe I've forgotten how to function without you. Maybe I don't care. All I know is that the world makes sense when we're together and I need it to make sense again._

_I know I sound crazy and I'm sorry. I don't want to make you uncomfortable. I really just wanted you to know I'm okay and that, hopefully, I'll see you soon. Take care of yourself, Katara._

_Your friend,_

_Aang_

Aang read the letter back over to himself, feeling only marginally better after having written it. For a few minutes, he sat there, debating whether or not he should send it at all. After a few minutes, he made his decision and carefully rolled the parchment into a scroll. He had only just sent the hawk airborne and was watching it disappear through the treetops overhead when a hand came to rest on his shoulders. He turned to regard Toph's inscrutable features.

"It's late," she said. "We should eat breakfast and get a move on."

As she started to walk away to collect sticks for the fire, Aang called to her back, "Don't you think we should talk about last night?" He wanted to apologize right then, but, for some unfathomable reason, he couldn't seem to push the words past his lips.

Toph paused but did not turn back to face him when she asked, "Did you clear your head after you left?"

"Well, yeah…I guess so…"

Toph shrugged. "Then there's nothing to talk about." But the expression on her face as she walked away from him was just as hurt and confused as Aang's.

****

Toph and Aang made trekked their way across the barren dunes of Earth Kingdom desert towards the jagged mountain chain looming on the horizon. As a precaution, they'd wisely decided to approach General Gang Huo's secret mountain camp on foot. They were less likely to garner attention that way. Of course, it had taken two full bags of moon peaches to persuade Appa and Momo to stay behind. Truthfully, Aang hadn't been all too thrilled about leaving them either. The last time he'd been separated from Appa in the desert he had lost his beloved pet for some months. He still struggled with the cold fear and uncertainty he'd felt during that time.

Sensing his reluctance, it was then that Toph had spoken to him after hours of tense silence. She had placed her hand on his shoulder and said, "He'll be here when we get back. I promise you, Aang."

"I'm being silly."

"No," she'd refuted quietly. "I'm scared to go in there too. I don't like feeling vulnerable. But we're together and we'll be okay."

Though Aang knew she had no real way of insuring that promise, the tranquil surety in her tone was enough to comfort him. Her conviction and confidence were infectious. After admonishing Appa and Momo to keep out of sight, Aang followed Toph out into the wilderness.

Unlike the last time they'd found themselves in the desert, nearly fatally ill-prepared without Appa, this time Aang and Toph were sure to carry food and water on their persons. Toph had also developed a technique of solidifying the sand beneath her feet as she walked so that her vision was not as hampered. Her reaction time was slowed considerably, but at least she wasn't completely blind. Aang had learned a lesson as well. He carried his own pouch of bending water, recognizing the usefulness of having all the bending techniques at his disposal.

It was early afternoon and the sun was high and bright in the sky. The heat was blistering, creating a hazy film on the horizon. There were very few signs of life, save for the occasional blooming cactus and the desert birds.

During that long, quiet journey Aang had plenty of time to meditate on his behavior the past few days. He realized now, in hindsight, that he'd been too judgmental and harsh concerning Toph's motives. Not a few days before she had told him quite plainly that she loved him. She wanted to help him. While her approach in doing so had been anything but gentle, Aang recognized now that her efforts had been pure. He recognized that he was resenting her for the execution without ever really considering the impetus behind her actions. She wasn't picking on him for the sheer amusement of it all. She was honestly trying to help him. And, rather than appreciating her efforts, he had repaid her concern with misplaced anger, sarcasm and insults.

_I'm an awful friend_, Aang concluded glumly. Toph was aware of her faults as a friend and she was making a genuine attempt to correct him. The least he could do was to offer her the same courtesy.

He opened his mouth to do just that when Toph abruptly shoved him behind a nearby cactus. Before Aang even had time to react to the unceremonious shove, a beacon of fire roared past them. He blinked at Toph rapidly. "You…you just saved my life," he stammered in disbelief.

"You can thank me later," she responded dismissively. "Right now, we're under attack!"

Almost the moment she voiced the words, a sudden whistling sound split the air. Within seconds, a binding net wrapped securing around Toph's body, constricting her diminutive form in a vise tight enough to send her toppling to the sandy desert floor. Aang yelled out her name in horror. A high cloud of dust and wind kicked up around him, obscuring his line of vision. He barely had time to scramble to his feet before he suffered the same fate as Toph had before him.


	8. Chapter Seven

**A/N: My apologies again for taking so long. A combination of sickness and an inability to write action sequences. They burn. Hopefully, from this point on, I'll be able to keep up with a schedule of two updates a week. Thanks for your patience.**

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

It was a long, long way down.

Aang made that chilling observation as half a dozen soldiers roughly secured him and Toph to a large, gnarled tree situated high along the mountain cliff-side. At the base of the steep ravine, which was a sheer drop of at least two hundred feet, was a cluster of serrated rocks and a thrashing river. Aang gulped. Only a mere six inches or so separated him and Toph from a lengthy, unpleasant plummet. He seriously doubted their close proximity to the edge was an accident.

The journey had not been easy. An arduous four hour trek across scorching, arid tundra with no water or food or even a small break had left both Aang and Toph incredibly weak and disoriented. They were dehydrated and drained and dusty. Hours of biting demands and alternate pleas for the identities of their kidnappers had yielded nothing. The caravan of men who had taken them proved to be a relatively silent bunch, focused singularly on one apparent mission: to deliver Aang and Toph to the agreed upon destination. However, by the time they arrived, all questions as to where they were headed proved unnecessary. It was painfully obvious to Aang and Toph who had taken them. The only question now was _why_.

As their captors wrapped them tightly from mid-chest to ankle in thick, heavy rope, an extra precautionary measure as they were already tied at the wrists and ankles, Aang surreptitiously took in his surroundings. Tucked away in a craggy nook of the mountainside, a small army thrived. Two neat rows of more than a dozen tents lined the campground. In a clearing not too far off, firebenders practiced their strikes with expert precision, sparring with one another to hone their skills. Still other soldiers polished and fashioned weaponry, their gazes hard and inscrutable as they regarded the Avatar and his companion.

It became quickly apparent that Aang that he and Toph had not been brought to any ordinary camp. They were situated of the fringes of an elite military training base. His optimistic theory that General Gang Huo was just a man looking to start over by running from his past died a quick, disappointing death. He had known better, but still he had hoped. He really had.

"So I count like twenty-five, maybe a few more," Toph mumbled furtively when they were finally left in relative solitude. "I think we can take them, Twinkle Toes."

"What?" Aang bleated.

"You go left and I'll go right."

"Toph, I know you can't see it, but we're tied to a tree on the edge of a cliff," he flashed back under his breath. "How exactly are we supposed to 'take them?'"

"How am I supposed to know?" she griped. "You're the master of four elements! Do something!"

"Like what? Did you miss the part about being tied to a tree?"

Toph growled at him. "I dunno…can't you spew fire out of your mouth or your eyeballs or something?"

"Yeah…cuz that wouldn't be obvious at all," Aang deadpanned.

"Well, you'd better figure it out!" Toph hissed. "And fast! I think something's about to go down!"

Aang's heart and breath quickened at the urgency in her tone even as a curious hush settled over the camp. Suddenly, their surroundings seemed abnormally silent. Not even the quiet chirp and rustle of wildlife sounded in the distance. A mild panic settled in Aang's belly. With methodical precision he began working to curl his fingers up within the tight confines of his bindings so that he could touch the ropes twisted around his wrists. If he could concentrate enough…if he could _move_ his fingers enough, he might be able to sear through the ropes and free himself. He _had_ to.

As Aang worked furiously on executing that plan, the men scattered through the small clearing gradually began coming to their feet, heads respectfully bowed. They diverged into tidy lines of two, forming a wide pathway between their formations. For the most part, the soldiers kept their eyes fixated straight ahead, but there were a select few who threw satisfied glances towards Aang and Toph. Something was about to go down, indeed. Seconds later, Aang realized exactly what that "something" was.

The man strode confidently down the open pathway, tall, muscular and battle worn…an obvious leader. He came to stand only a few feet before where his captives were tied. Even bare-chested and shoeless, clad in nothing but a pair of loose, threadbare trousers of faded crimson, the man presented an intimidating façade, the tendons and sinew in his arms flexing, his long, dark hair unfettered and wild. In the rising wind, it whipped and billowed across his angular features like matted eagle feathers. His ocher eyes were focused and chilled and unreadable.

Though Aang had never seen the man before that moment, he needed no introduction. The resemblance he bore to his older brother was striking. In that moment, Aang marveled at how two people could bear such a strong physical likeness to one another and yet, seemingly, be as different as the sun and moon.

"Welcome to my camp, Avatar," the man greeted them almost warmly as if he didn't have them tied to a tree on the edge of a cliff. "I am General Gang Huo, loyal soldier to Firelord Ozai and servant to our beloved Fire Nation."

"We know who you are!" Toph snapped. "What we want to know is why you have us tied to a tree!"

"Yeah! Why did your men ambush us?" Aang piped in sharply.

"Why do you think?" Gang Huo queried in a ridiculously calm tone. "You are the enemy. This is what happens to an enemy who wanders into hostile territory during a war. You're lucky you weren't killed on sight. Try to show a bit more appreciation for my benevolence."

"How thoughtless of us," Toph deadpanned disrespectfully. "_Thank you_ for dragging us through the hot, dusty desert with no water and then tying us to this tree which happens to be on the edge of a death cliff. You're all heart."

"My friend has a point," Aang said, though he was cringing inwardly over how Toph had chosen to word that point. "We're not your enemies, General. We came here on a mission of peace, but what you're doing now is not helping your circumstances at all."

"My circumstances?" the General scoffed. "I hadn't realized _my circumstances _were in peril. After all, I'm not the one tied to the tree now, am I?"

"But you _are_ the one wanted for treason," Aang countered boldly. "You can make this easy or not. It's your choice."

"Treason is a matter of viewpoint, I think," Gang Huo replied.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Aang demanded.

"Only that it's curious that you would accuse me of treason," the General considered in a pensive tone, "when it is actually _you _who are guilty of the crime."

"You've been in this desert sun too long!" Toph snorted. "You're accusing _us_ of treason?"

"Yes. For crimes against the Fire Nation," Gang Huo clarified. "And the _Firelord_." He leveled Aang with a cold stare. "You remember him, don't you, Avatar? You stripped him of his throne…and his bending. In shaming him, you shamed our entire nation. You stripped us of the birthright that Firelord Sozin _died_ to acquire. Now you must suffer the consequences."

"I guess this is another matter of viewpoint then!" Toph retorted. "For your information, most people are glad the war is over and done, oh Deluded One! You lost! Stop living in the past!"

"I'm hardly living in the past," Gang Huo refuted. "The war is only over if we concede defeat and we have _not_ conceded defeat!" A roar of agreement went up behind him, deafening and cacophonic. "We will _never_ concede defeat," he added when the noise had died down. "This is our homeland…our way of life. We will fight to the death for it."

"Well, your people have already moved on," Toph replied. "So how about I offer another suggestion? You release us _now_ and I'll be willing to let this whole kidnapping thing slide!"

"Toph!" Aang admonished in a chagrined under-breath. "You're not helping."

"I don't care!" she snapped loudly. "Nobody trusses me up like a hippo-pig and gets away with it! I don't care if he is completely out of his mind!"

"So much defiance and disrespect," Gang Huo observed, almost amused. "I wonder if you truly have the skills to match your mouth or if the tales of your earthbending prowess were greatly exaggerated."

"Why don't you let me go and I'll let you judge for yourself?" Toph offered sweetly.

The General laughed. "Unfortunately, I can't give you the opportunity," he said. "I have something else in mind for you both."

"And what's that?" Aang asked warily.

"Justice," Gang Huo declared implacably. "I plan to make an example of you, Avatar. You had to fall once so that our nation could rise and now you must do so again. You're young and it's a pity it must come to this, but I see no other way."

"You really _are_ nuts!" Toph cried bluntly.

"That is how most visionaries are seen in the beginning," Gang Huo replied. "However, I trust that history will remember me differently."

"And at what cost?" Aang demanded. "Do you really want to see this war prolonged? How is that good for anyone, especially your people?" He regarded the General with a compelling stare. "Your honor can be regained, but, if you do this, you'll make any effort to do so even harder. Is that what you want for yourself, for your nation…_your brother_?"

Gang Huo stiffened, his body drawing tense and tight as he leveled Aang with a narrowed glare. "Do not speak of my brother! You know nothing about him!"

"I know that he admires you," Aang insisted. "He believes in you. He _trusts_ you. Is that trust misplaced?" Were it not for the restrained flashing in Gang Huo's eyes, Aang would have believed the General to be completely unaffected by the mention of his brother. But he wasn't unaffected. The shimmer in his eyes was telling, even while brief and quickly blinked away. Despite that, because he knew he had hit his mark, Aang pressed on. "What would he think if he knew what you were doing here?"

"I have a better question," the General replied, ignoring Aang's queries altogether. "Should I be offended that the Firelord sent two children to apprehend me or flattered because those two children happen to be two of the most powerful benders alive?" He stroked his tapered beard thoughtfully. "What do you think?"

"I think you should ask yourself whether or not you really want to live the life of a fugitive," Aang reasoned astutely. "I didn't come here to hurt you, but if you continue on this way, you'll leave me no choice." As he spoke, he gradually managed to maneuver his fingers into a position where he could touch the ropes around his wrists and incinerate them. They came loose and he quickly went to work on the ones binding him to the tree. However, Aang was careful and subtle in his endeavor, not wanting to alert the General or the soldiers to his actions.

Meanwhile, Gang Huo snorted a derisive laugh and raked Aang with a contemptuous glance. "Hurt me? I can't say that's a fear of mine, Avatar."

"Well, you know what…" Aang replied as he seared through the remains of his bindings, "…maybe this would have gone better if it had been."

The ropes crumbled to ash without warning. Before Gang Huo and his soldiers could react, Aang sliced his arm forward with a mighty grunt. A reverberating ring of fire shot forth from his fingertips. His opponents fell back reflexively, throwing up their own fiery shields of cover. In the confusion, Aang scrambled over to Toph. His fingers shook ridiculously as he seared the ropes away from her wrists and ankles.

"Took you long enough," she griped moments before tackling him to the ground. She earthbended them below ground, encasing them in a small, spherical nook just as the firebenders recouped and launched their counter attack. Aang and Toph crouched in the cramped confines, acutely aware of the limited air supply within. Consequently, Toph wasted very little time cutting to the chase.

"We'll stick with the plan we had before," she told him. "There are a lot of them, so we'll need to be clever about this." Above their heads, the soldiers' footfalls rumbled. The earth rumbled with the force of their fire blasts.

"Okay, so what's the plan again?" Aang asked somewhat anxiously.

Toph released an exasperated groan. "You go left and I'll go right," she reminded him. "I'll bend us back out in the middle of their camp. They won't be expecting that. Be ready." Before she could execute the move to bend them back above ground, however, Aang caught hold of her wrist. "What now?" she snapped impatiently.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about what happened between us earlier," Aang said. "I guess I got mad at you because I knew what you were saying was the truth. I was being stubborn and unreasonable and it's completely my fault we're in this mess now."

"You're right. It is your fault. And as much as I'd like to rub that in your face right now…" Toph began in a saccharine tone, "…this isn't the time. People are trying to kill us and we don't have much air in here, remember?"

"Right."

"So can I do what I need to do now?"

With a weak, sheepish smile, Aang obliged and dropped her wrist. "Sure. Do your thing."

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Moments later, they re-emerged in the middle of the camp, defensive stances at the ready. The element of surprise lasted mere seconds. A concentrated wave of licking flames ate its way through the camp. Aang spun up onto his air scooter, bending out a flash of water from his pouch to abate the flames. Puffs of steam erupted in the aftermath, seriously impairing visibility within the camp. Counter attacks were haphazard and uncoordinated. Rather than returning fire, Aang evaded and avoided. He took advantage of the foggy cover to knock soldiers aside and askew with quick twists and abrupt turns.

While he went left, leading soldiers on a frustrating goose chase, Toph went right and rock surfed her way through the soldiers in her path. She mowed them down with laughing glee. "Let's see…" she drawled as she circled the perimeter of the camp, drawing enemy fire as she did so, "…you're on a _mountain_ with the greatest earthbender in the world! I'm thinking this isn't going to be your day." She played with them, drawing their fire solely for her amusement and biding her time all the while.

As Toph played her own version of cat and mouse, Aang suddenly found himself encircled as the camp cleared again. Firebenders closed in on him from all angles, creating a circular prison with their bodies. As they prepared for a combined attack, Aang inhaled a deep breath. Just as the flames sizzled towards him, he exploded. Fire billowed out into an arcing wall of liquid heat as a stiff blast of wind flashed out from Aang's body with enough force to topple over his attackers and bow trees low to the ground. Branches cracked and whistled as they were broken off and spun through the sky.

In the aftermath, a few soldiers retreated. Others, however, fell back into the dense cluster of trees far beyond the camp and stubbornly stood their ground. Toph happily went after those while Aang ran off in search of an errant General Gang Huo.

Blazing spheres zigzagged over and under and back and forth, crisscrossing the trees and foliage and setting them afire. Toph agilely avoided the rain of fire, catapulting from one earthen perch to another while carefully assimilating the position of her enemies with each touch to the earth. Three behind a giant rock fifty paces away, a few more crouched behind various trees flanking her and still others planning sneak attacks behind her…Toph "saw" them all. On her final landing, with roaring tendrils of fire flicking at her sensitive heels, Toph whacked the earth with a heavy fall of her hand, simultaneously ducking the fiery wave and sending up more than a dozen synchronized earthen spikes at the same time.

Seconds later the air was split with the baritone cries of airborne men. Toph rose to her feet with a satisfied smile. "That was almost too easy," she sighed to herself. However, her attempt to pat herself on the back was premature. Vibrations in the earth revealed that her combatants were not yet finished and, upon landing, were already struggling to their feet for a second round. "You've got to be kidding me." Toph released out an incredulous, annoyed sigh. "It's going to be a long day."

Back on the fringes of what remained of Gang Huo's destroyed camp, only a few scant feet from the cliff, Aang faced the General all alone. Isolated fires dotted the deserted clearing. The loud crackle and pop of burning leaves and wood sounded in tandem with their harsh and heavy breathing. Curling columns of thick, black smoke rose high in the early evening sky.

"It's over, General Gang Huo," Aang stated breathlessly. "Let's end this now before it goes any further."

"Let's not!" Gang Huo countered.

With facile efficiency, Gang Huo snaked out a blazing cylinder of flames and caught Aang about the ankle, yanking the young Avatar off his feet. Aang hit the ground with a bone-rattling thud, his answering grunt of pain choked out in the swelling dust cloud created by the impact. The General gave him very little time to recover before he was attacking again, lashing at Aang with a sizzling whip of fire.

Quickly gathering his feet beneath him, Aang scrambled to safety, darting and dashing and rolling and rushing as Gang Huo brought down blow after fiery blow. The older man twisted his body in a graceful rotation of constant motion, rendering his lean, agile form a heart of living fire. Aang bounded against the tree and the rocks edging the cliff and back again, circling and dancing, rebounding again and again in an effort to avoid the General's unrelenting attacks.

As Gang Huo stalked him back and forth along the rim, the earth began to slide and crumble beneath their feet. The tree, which had been firmly rooted before, began to sag ominously as its root hold loosened. Large chunks of the mountain began to break free to plunge into the river churning below.

"We need to stop this!" Aang cried. "This cliff is going to give way any moment!"

"Then let it give way!" Gang Huo declared, undaunted. "I will not stop until the Fire Nation's honor is restored! That can only come by your death!"

"No! This isn't the way to do it!"

"It's the only way! So stand and fight, Avatar, or don't and perish!"

Despite his almost irrational reasoning on the matter, Gang Huo fought with an amazing calmness and precision that had been lacking in many of Aang's former opponents. Admiral Zhao and even Zuko had allowed their anger and pride to drive them and, in most instances, it was those very things that had cost them the battle. General Gang Huo, however, proved to be the absolute antithesis of that. He was a man who thrived on his ability to maintain control.

He took no wild shots at Aang, but executed each move with methodical precision. Pride did not drive his attacks, nor anger. Rather he was spurred on by the deep seeded belief that what he was doing was for a greater good, that the ends would justify the means…that through death and destruction, life and liberty would flourish. As a result, he pushed Aang, hoping to provoke the young Avatar into unleashing every ounce of power and prowess he possessed. He welcomed Aang's inevitable explosion and thus, he pursued the reluctant Avatar as a hunter did its prey, until he finally had him cornered.

Retreating further, Aang flipped back into the branches of the listing tree and regarded the General from his perch with a sad stare. "It doesn't have to be this way," he said. "You and I want the same things! We just disagree on how to get there!"

"Fight me, Avatar!" Gang Huo spit back, as if Aang had said nothing at all. "You have the power to destroy me and yet you hold back! You shame and dishonor me by doing so!"

"I won't fight you!"

Gang Huo threw out a ball of fire from his palm, setting the base of the slipping tree afire. "You will fight me!" he asserted harshly. "I'm willing to die for honor and for my nation! What are _you_ willing to die for, Avatar?" He intensified the flames, consuming the tree. "What are you waiting for?"

Left with little choice, Aang abandoned the tree and floated to the ground to face Gang Huo. He stood before the general, arms wide with supplication and peace. "I know what you're doing and I won't help you," he murmured. "I won't let you use me as an instrument of your own death."

"It hardly matters," Gang Huo replied, "with your death or with mine, my honor is restored. The choice is yours."

Storm colored eyes locked with fiery, determined ones as Gang Huo drew back his fist to wield what he fully intended to be a death blow when the burning tree suddenly gave way. It toppled over heavily, throwing off his equilibrium and causing him to wobble precariously as a good chunk of the cliff's edge crumbled away. Aang fell along with the collapsing debris, bouncing against a narrow, jutting rock ledge below before rolling off the perch completely. He cried out, catching hold of the rocky perimeter before he could tumble further down the chasm. As he hung there on the precipice, dangling in mid-air, Gang Huo came to crouch above him.

He planted his feet on either side of Aang's slipping hands. Almost casually, he hung his forearms loosely over his knees and stared down at Aang with an inscrutable expression. His features were stony and lined with just the tiniest bit remorseful, but also intensely resolved.

"If there were another way…" he mused softly as he regarded Aang. "You're still so very young…with your whole life before you. It's a true shame that it had to come to this."

"It doesn't! Don't do this," Aang pleaded. He knew that this situation would only end badly for one of them.

"I take no joy in this decision," Gang Huo told him. "But as long as you live, my nation will be cloaked in disgrace and shame. I must do what needs to be done. I'm sorry, Avatar." With one final, penitent sigh, he thrust his hand forward and blasted.

Aang brought up his arm with a defensive cry just as the fiery missile barreled into his body, knocking loose his hold on the mountain. He fell. His reactive yelp coincided with Toph's macabre scream of horror as she skidded into the camp and lost sensory sight of him. Filled with an instant rage that served to mask the sudden grief suffusing her chest, Toph pounded forward with breakneck speed.

Her footfalls reverberated across the shaky cliff, shaking loose the remains of the unstable ground. Just as Gang Huo lifted his arms to fend off her incoming attack, the rock and earth beneath his feet gave way and plummeted into the rushing water below, taking him down with it. His surprised cries echoed through the canyon as Toph slid to a halt on the precipice.

She fell to her knees, running her hands frantically over the surface of the ground in a desperate attempt to locate Aang. "No, no, no, no, no…" she whispered over and over. "I'm not too late. I'm not too late." Her breathing coming in harsh, fitful pants, she practically dug her hands beneath the ground surface, pinpointing small animals and even insects but, for all her efforts, she was unable to find Aang. "Where are you?" she ground out in a panicked breath. _"Where are you?"_

"I'm right in front of you," he answered tiredly.

"Aang?" Toph lifted her sightless gaze, beholding nothing but encompassing blackness, yet knowing absolutely that Aang was there.

He hovered before her on his air scooter, battered, bruised and burned, but alive. Using the last reserves of his waning energy, Aang puttered forward and collapsed down beside Toph. "Do you think you could lend me a hand, Toph?" he wondered weakly. "I feel a little dizzy."

Before she could respond to that at all, he slumped over into her lap in a dead faint. Overwhelmed and more than a little emotional, Toph swallowed audibly past the lump forming in her throat. Her entire body trembled. She placed a shaking hand against the crown of Aang's head, running her fingers lightly across his cheek, eternally thankful in that moment that he was unconscious and unable to witness her relieved tears.

****

"Wake up, Lazy. I'm not a nursemaid."

With that curt declaration, Aang made a concerted effort to open his eyes. It took several, painstaking moments, but he eventually gained the fortitude to part his lids. Night had fallen. The sky was scattered with blanketed in dark blue, twinkling stars and a gleaming new moon. A few feet away a camp fire burned. The aroma of cooking vegetables wafted through the air.

However, Aang registered all of those things on the periphery of his consciousness. What he was most abundantly, blindingly, regretfully aware of was the blistering pain radiating through his neck and arm, a pain so intense he was made nauseous with it. He groaned aloud, swallowing down the urge to be sick.

"Don't you dare throw up again," Toph warned direly when she heard his gagging. "Spending the entire night mopping up your puke isn't my idea of a dream, okay, so hold it in!"

"Toph?"

"No, it's Appa. I can talk now and I've decided to ditch the fur," she returned sarcastically, scooting into his field of vision. "Of course, it's me!" Yet, her tone considerably gentled when she added, "How are you feeling?"

Aang blinked at her fuzzily. "I…hurt…really bad…" He closed his eyes, trying desperately to recall why that was. When he couldn't piece together the disjointed memory, he opened his eyes to regard Toph once more. "What happened?"

"Eh, not much," she brazened. "We fought. We won. Same story, different day."

"It must have been just barely…" Aang mumbled. "Is that why I hurt so much?"

"Gang Huo tried to kill you," Toph recounted carefully. "You were burned pretty badly. I…I don't know how it _looks_, but it _feels_ pretty awful. I tried to be really gentle while I cleaned it though. You surprised me, Twinkle Toes. You didn't even scream. Not even once. I was sure you'd be weeping like a girl the entire time."

"Gee…thanks, Toph."

"You got brass ones," she praised in amazement. "I'm impressed."

"Full body tattoo, remember?"

"Right…"

Though it took a considerable amount of energy that he didn't have, Aang lifted his head to survey his badly blistered flesh. His skin was raw and charred from his forearm clear up to his shoulder. Just turning his neck to do that bit of inspection caused Aang an untold amount of pain and he imagined that it must be in a similar condition. Hissing in agony, Aang collapsed back into the makeshift pallet Toph had prepared for him as a wave of dizziness assaulted him.

"Take it easy," Toph advised. "You're not going anywhere for a while."

"Agreed," Aang replied between shallow breaths.

"I did the best I could with some healing salves I found among the soldiers' things." Toph frowned to herself. "At least, I _hope_ it was healing salve. It smelled…herby… Anyway I scrubbed away the dead skin and smeared you down, but I don't know how much good it did. You're likely going to have a wicked scar anyway," she warned him. "Sorry, I was all out of magical healing water."

"It's okay…" Aang mumbled weakly. "Have…have you been taking care of me this whole time?"

"More or less," she replied. "Appa and Momo showed up a few hours ago. I guess when we didn't come back they decided to come looking for us. I had to beat Momo off with a stick."

"What about Gang Huo?"

"He's gone, Aang," Toph answered, but without a hint of regret. "Along with the rest of his men. It's over."

He didn't need any further explanation than that. Aang bit back a remorseful sigh. "This wasn't how I wanted things to happen at all."

"Well, this was the way General Gang Huo wanted it," Toph returned implacably. "He got what he was looking for, so don't you dare blame yourself." Rather than wait for Aang to respond with more self-flagellation, Toph changed the subject altogether by asking, "Are you hungry?"

"Why?" Aang demanded suspiciously. "Did you cook?"

"You don't have to sound so shocked!" she retorted in affront. "You want to eat or not?"

"Yeah," he replied, scooting himself into an upright position despite the pain the movement caused. "I want to eat."

"I'll be right back," Toph promised, moving over near the fire to scoop out a bowl of food for him. "By the way, Aang," she remarked almost casually as she served up his bowl, "that fight we had earlier today?"

"Yeah?" he replied quietly.

"I'm sorry too." Unexpectedly, she reached out to take hold of his hand, her first real show of intimate vulnerability since he'd regained consciousness. For Aang, especially coming from Toph, the gesture was telling and immensely treasured. "No hard feelings, okay?" she asked in a voice thickened with unshed tears.

Aang squeezed her hand and smiled. "No hard feelings."


	9. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

He fell into her eyes, limpid pools of blue that reminded him of the sun-kissed waters off the Fire Nation coast. She hovered close to him much the way she had after freeing him from the iceberg, his body gently and carefully cradled against hers. She pushed the fur rimmed hood from her head, revealing a nest of loosened curls. Her dark hair floated about her face in a whipping halo, consuming her loopies so that the only evidence left on them were the sparkling, blue beads at the crown of her head. She smiled at him, an wistful, exclusive smile…a smile reserved only for him. Aang smiled back.

In that moment, she had never been more beautiful to him.

His breath caught in anticipation as she reached up to cup his face. Her fingertips slid along his cheek like gossamer webbing, dancing almost tentatively across lips and nose and brow. There was a hesitancy and awkwardness in her touch, but undeniable affection and tenderness as well. The sweet beat of her fingers as she scaled his features had a lulling affect on Aang. He closed his eyes once more with a contented sigh, turning his face into her roaming caress and whispering her name…

"Ew! That's so gross! Aang, wake up already!"

The response was harsh and jarring and _very_ un-Katara-like. Aang's eyes flashed open. Katara's ethereal vision was gone and in her place was a cantankerous Toph, sporting disgusted scowl and zealously rubbing her palm against the leg of her tunic. Aang flinched back into his pallet with a yelp of horror.

"Sorry to disappoint you, Twinkle Toes," she deadpanned dryly. "Sugar Queen's not here. It's just me and the furballs."

"Whuh?"

"You have a fever," Toph clarified briskly. "You've been moaning Katara's name in your sleep for the last half hour."

"I have?" She confirmed with a terse nod. For some reason the revelation not only filled Aang with sweeping embarrassment, but a curious sense of guilt as well. The thought of Toph taking care of him while he cried out for another girl made him feel…weird. He felt like he had done something wrong even as he was confused about what that something was. "Sorry," he mumbled, cutting his eyes away from her. "I don't know what I was thinking. I've had the weirdest dreams…"

"I know. It's okay," Toph said. "You're a little delirious. It happens. This is the first coherent conversation we've had with each other in two days, so I'll take it."

"Really? Did I say a lot of crazy stuff?" he wondered groggily, cringing inwardly at the thought. If he'd made a fool of himself, it was an unspoken guarantee that Toph would never let him live it down.

However, teasing him was the furthest thing from Toph's mind. For two days, she had been a quagmire of emotions as she'd listened to a feverish and fitful Aang call out for a guardian who had died long ago. Sometimes he seemed to remember that and he would sob, even in his sleep. Other times he seemed to have no recollection of Gyatso's death at all and, for Toph, those were the hardest times because he would wake up with the expectation to see his airbending mentor. He'd ask for him, over and over, and she would never know what to tell him.

It had been strange and painful for her to have such an unobstructed view to the grief and pain Aang usually didn't let on he felt. He was always so cheerful and bubbly and sickeningly optimistic that it was difficult to imagine he harbored any negative emotions at all. She had never imagined what simmered beneath the surface. It made her regret dismissing him and disdaining him in the past. It made her feel guilty for feeling sorry for herself.

She often lamented the loss of her family and their inability to understand her, but watching Aang struggle with his inner demons was a brutal reminder for Toph that she had the power to change that. She had the option of returning home and reclaiming her life. Aang did not. That opportunity had passed him by a century ago.

Gulping past the lump of sorrow that had suddenly formed in her throat, Toph said, "Nope. You didn't say anything too crazy at all. Big disappointment for me."

"I'll bet…" Aang muttered. "Sorry I couldn't give you more to work with."

"You'll make it up to me." The two exchanged sarcastic snorts at that. "Are you hungry?" Toph asked him. Aang shook his head. "Thirsty?"

"A little," he admitted.

"I'll get you some water," she volunteered.

While she retrieved a small canteen from her canvas bag, Aang smiled at her back faintly, trying to recall a time when Toph had ever been so solicitous. He was still thinking that over when she returned to his side, carefully slipped her arm beneath his head and pressed the canteen to his lips. He drank greedily, not realizing how thirsty he'd been until the water touched his tongue. A few seconds later he fell back with a satisfied, but exhausted sigh. "Thank you," he murmured as she took a drink herself before putting the canteen away.

"No problem."

"I mean it, Toph," Aang insisted. "I know these last few days haven't been very fun for you."

"No, they haven't," she agreed with unabashed candor. "I don't know how Katara does this. It's a thankless job, that's for sure."

"Well, I should be better soon so you won't have to bother too much longer," Aang reassured her.

"Eh, it passes the time," she said with a disinterested shrug, but there was something infinitely gentle about her tone in spite of her laconic reply.

"I'm sorry about everything. I can't believe you're not mad at me right now."

"Who says I'm not mad?" she challenged.

"Are you mad?" Aang wondered carefully.

"You're sick right now, Aang," Toph replied vaguely, but added for clarification mere seconds later, "There will be plenty of time to kick your butt once you recover."

Aang digested that rather ominous pronouncement with a bob of his head. "Thanks for the heads up."

"I try," Toph wisecracked. But Aang's laughter following that died off abruptly and Toph found herself wondering if he was still preoccupied with the dream he'd had earlier. "So…um…I guess you've been thinking about Katara lately, huh?"

"Katara?"

"You were dreaming about her. Remember?"

"Oh, I don't really remember that much," Aang told her, brows furrowed. "I guess I just felt warm and safe and I usually associate that kind of feeling with Katara. Maybe that's why I imagined she was here."

"Oh…" Toph piped because she couldn't think of a better response.

She wasn't sure how she should feel about Aang's admission. On one hand, she couldn't imagine why she would care. Aang and Katara had always had a spectacularly close bond and Toph supposed it was natural that he would yearn for her when he was feeling scared and vulnerable. Yet, despite that very logical rationalization, Toph still found herself inexplicably annoyed.

Her emotions must have been plainly visible on her face, she realized, because seconds later Aang was tripping over himself with reassurances. "That's not a slight against you, Toph!" he declared meaningfully. "I'm not saying you're doing a bad job or anything. I'm not in that much pain and I'm very comfortable. I'm very grateful to you. I think you've taken great care of me these last few days."

"I'm just not Katara," Toph concluded flatly. Realizing that everything he'd said had mostly fallen on deaf ears, Aang groaned inwardly. "Don't sweat it," Toph brazened. "It's not like I wanted to be her in the first place. I like me just fine."

Yet, even as she said the words, she was fighting back a wave of frustration and anger. Honestly, she had no idea _why_ she was so annoyed, but she was, unshakably so. Toph wondered if perhaps it was because, in the few weeks she and Aang had been traveling together, she had come to know and even begrudgingly appreciate the remarkable young man he was. It had taken being alone with him for her to recognize that the qualities she had once perceived as his greatest weaknesses were, ironically, his greatest strengths. Aang wasn't overly concerned with proving his manhood, nor did he ever try to do so. He had the courage and strength to stick to his convictions and that was enough for him. _That_ is what made him strong.

His unique brand of nobility wasn't necessarily the kind of thing that floated Toph's boat when it came to guys, but she knew girls like Katara ate that kind of stuff up. She found it more than a little aggravating that Katara didn't seem to notice the prize she had right in front of her. Could she not see that Aang was everything she wanted and idolized? Factor in also Aang's hopeless devotion to her in spite of her continued blindness and Toph was infused with the need to shake them both senseless. Aang, for laying his heart so fricking bare in the first place and Katara, for being too stupid to realize it was even being presented to her! What a pack of idiots!

Toph heaved an internal sigh, further aggravated by the direction of her thoughts. _What was wrong with her?_ Why was she even obsessing over the romance or lack thereof between Aang and Katara anyway? Emotions tended to be messy and pointless, especially romantic ones, and only served to complicate perfectly good relationships. She had to look no further than her secret crush on Sokka for confirmation on that.

Though her twinges of jealousy towards Suki had been few and far between, they _had_ existed. The realization hadn't thrilled her. Her short-lived crush on Zuko had been a crushing disappointment as well. It was a not so subtle reminder that perhaps she was better off going it alone.

As far as Toph was concerned, love was overrated. Why even bother? She certainly didn't care. Yet, just a few weeks alone with Aang and she was practically obsessing over it and it wasn't even about_ her _love life! She was fast becoming a confusing vat of sensitivity and sentiment…a wimp…a wuss…a _girl_. Toph nearly gagged aloud at the thought. Aang didn't just need a break from her. Toph was beginning to see that she needed a break from him as well! He was turning her soft.

"You should be ready to travel in a day or two," she informed him abruptly. "So, it won't be too long before you see Katara again and things can get back to normal for the both of us."

"Back to normal?" Aang questioned, frowning over the mercurial shift in her mood.

"Yeah, I want to get back to normal. I can't wait! You need to be back with Katara so you guys can pick up doing the things that you do and I need to…need to…" …_I need to_ _feel like me again_, she finished with a mental frown.

"What do you need to do, Toph?" he wondered softly, carefully studying the flashed of sadness, confusion and loneliness that flickered across her features. "Where do you want to go?"

"I don't know," she snapped suddenly. She was aggravated with herself for being so confused and tentative and she was aggravated with Aang for making her feel that way. "I haven't figured it out yet! But I will."

"You could always go home," Aang suggested tentatively.

"Not going to happen, Twinkle Toes." In an attempt to shut him up, she abruptly shoved a spoonful of rice into his mouth. "I said, not going to happen." Aang chewed dutifully and swallowed, but the moment he attempted to speak again he was rewarded with another spoonful. Toph continued with the ploy whenever he tried to press the matter so that he had little choice but to open his mouth wide or lose his teeth. The bowl was completely empty and Aang was belching loudly from his overly full belly before he had the opportunity to say what was on his mind.

"Why don't you want to go home?" he demanded as he dodged Toph's intention to feed him her breakfast as well.

Frustrated, she threw the bowl aside. "It's a stupid idea, that's why!"

"I don't think it's stupid," Aang insisted. "I think it's just what you need."

"So you're an expert on what I need now?" she challenged tautly. "Here…have some more rice!"

"Toph, don't come near me with that bowl!" he warned direly. "You wouldn't be acting this way if you didn't know I was right! You should go home. See your parents. You miss them and I'm sure they miss you too."

"No!" she bit back sharply. "You're reaching! They don't want to see me! They don't want _me_! We've been through this already, Aang! I didn't want to talk about it then and I don't want to talk about it now!"

"You said friends talk!" Aang reminded her in pointed accusation.

"I was talking about _you_!" she cried.

"And now we're talking about you. Tell me why you don't want to go home."

"It's not that I don't want to go," she ground out between clenched teeth. "I can't. _I can't_ go home."

"Why?"

"I told you!" she fired. "They don't want me there. I won't be welcome! They're probably glad I'm gone."

"I don't believe that," Aang sighed. "Besides, you'll never know how your parents feel unless you ask them. Don't you want to know? Isn't the truth better than the alternative…walking around and believing you're unlovable?"

It was a simple question that did not have a simple answer. She didn't want to feel unlovable. She didn't want to feel unwanted. And she did want to know how her parents felt. She wanted them to know what _she_ felt. But, at the same time, the prospect of having her worst fears realized was too awful to contemplate. She wanted her parents to welcome her back with open arms. She _needed_ it. But what if that didn't happen? What if they really were glad she was gone? What if they'd stopped loving her?

"They haven't," Aang assured her, correctly reading her anguished expression. "Find that out for yourself. Let me take you back to them, Toph."

"You can't even lift a spoon," she snorted. "How are you supposed to take me back?"

Aang rolled his eyes. "I meant when I'm better."

"What about Katara? You're supposed to meet up with her in the South Pole, remember? I thought you were in a hurry to get back to her and bask in her sweetness and light?"

Largely ignoring her disdainful mocking, Aang replied solemnly, "I want to do this for you. I'll write Katara and let her know what's going on. She'll understand."

His naked candor was compelling. Toph found herself coaxed to reciprocate. The barriers she created around her heart began to crumble away and, in a rare instance, she sat beside Aang entirely vulnerable. Toph nibbled on her lower lip, uncertain. "I don't know if it's a good idea…" she hedged. "I mean…should I just drop in on them? I haven't even spoken to them since I sent that letter and they never replied back. I can't just show up out of the blue, can I?"

"They're your parents," Aang reasoned. "I think it will be okay."

"Famous last words," Toph griped.

"This is going to work out. I know it."

"What if I've changed too much for them?" she wondered aloud. "What if they've changed too much? The daughter they believed they had never existed. They never really knew the _real_ me, Aang. What if they don't like me? I'm not an easy person to love. You know that. Why should I expect it will be any different with them?"

"You're an incredibly easy person to love," Aang countered softly, "when you let yourself be loved, Toph."

Horrified by the tears that suddenly sprang to her eyes with his words, Toph began blinking them back rapidly. "You just want avoid telling Zuko about what really happened with General Gang Huo," she accused him good-naturedly. "For the record, I'm pretty sure Zuko will be okay with him being dead."

"Thanks, Toph," Aang deadpanned. "That makes me feel so much better."

"No problem. I'm here for you."

"But that's not my point," Aang pressed on doggedly. "I'm not offering to take you home to avoid going back to the Fire Nation…or to avoid going to the South Pole either," he added swiftly when she opened her mouth to argue. "I just want you to be happy, Toph."

"I _am_ happy."

"Okay…well, I want you to be _whole_ then," Aang amended after a moment of silence. "You're not that. Not yet anyway."

"Why do you care?" Toph grumbled dismissively.

"Would you rather I didn't?" Aang countered in a penetrating tone.

She sat there silent for a moment more, poised on the edge of indecision before she finally expelled a heavy sigh of acquiesce. "Fine! Whatever! This is going to be a total disaster, just so you know," she predicted direly, "but, if it means that much to you…let's do it. Take me home."

Toph had hopefully anticipated that it would take Aang another four or five days to recover fully enough to travel. She should have known better. He did it in two. Though slightly feverish and still suffering residual pain, Aang valiantly positioned himself atop Appa's head and set a course for the palatial Bei Fong estate. For a moment, Toph had seriously contemplated the wisdom of conking him on the head with a rock. In the end, she did little more than pout the entire journey while mentally cursing Aang.

To her further consternation, they made the journey in less than a day. The moment they reached the edge of her parents' property, Toph sensed it. A chill shuddered down her spine and settled in her bones long before Aang made the announcement that they'd arrived. Toph groaned inwardly. Her palms were already beginning to sweat and they hadn't even landed yet.

"I'll stay as long as you need me to," Aang reassured her as he brought Appa down. "I know you're scared. I'll be with you the whole time."

She gulped and nodded, hardly aware of Momo scampering up onto her shoulder to pluck at her ears as if to say, "It will be alright." Toph reached up to give his head an absent pat, but her sole focus was on the sonic façade of the ornate, earthen fortress before her…where her parents waited.

Heart knocking, Toph approached the gilded gates at the mouth of the estate on wooden legs. Aang picked up on her hesitation and impulsively reached out to grab hold of her hand. Instead of batting him away, she surprised them both by squeezing his fingers gratefully. He offered her a tentative smile and squeezed back.

Toph was in the middle of giving herself a bracing pep-talk when a lone figure suddenly appeared on the horizon, robes hiked high around the knees and advancing on them in a dead run. The vibrations of his thundering footfalls waved up her body. She stopped short, gaping incredulously as she recognized the figure's identity.

"Holy rabbit-monkeys! Aang, is that my…?"

"Yeah…I think…I think that's your dad!" Aang confirmed with equal disbelief as Lao Bei Fong rapidly closed the distance between them.

Toph hardly had time to adjust to that stunning revelation before her father was crushing her against him in a fierce hug. He held her so hard and so tight that, for a moment, Toph felt completely breathless. "Toph, you're home!" he whispered emotionally, overjoyed tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. "My little girl has finally come home!"

"I missed you too, Dad," Toph confessed gruffly, hugging him back with equal force.

Her father abruptly set her away from him, his eyes roaming over her in hungry inspection. "Let me look at you," he said, meticulously taking it every minute change. "You look older," he observed almost sadly as he surveyed her. "I've missed a great deal, I see."

"Not so much," Toph tried to reassure him, but the effort was weak at best because both she and her father were well aware that he had missed plenty.

"And you've grown taller since I saw you last," he added in amazement. "You've almost become a woman."

That had Toph groaning aloud. "Dad, please…"

Abruptly, Lao cut a glance over at Aang, who had managed to stand quiet and unobtrusive during the father/daughter reunion. "And you, Avatar…" Mr. Bei Fong began brusquely, "…you've grown as well. You and my daughter left here as children and returned as young adults. You have my enduring gratitude for finally bringing her home to me. Better late than never, I suppose."

"Dad, don't start!" Toph snapped even as Aang blushed in chagrin over the elder Bei Fong's criticism. "You know I stayed away because Aang needed to master earthbending. I explained everything in my letter. Didn't you get it?"

"I did."

"Then why are you upset with Aang?" Toph demanded. "You're angry because I didn't come home? Well…what stopped you from coming to me? What's your excuse for staying away, huh?"

"I have a very good excuse for not coming after you," Lao assured her softly. "Please give me the opportunity to explain." Without waiting for her acquiesce, however, he swept up her hand in his own. "Come with me into the house," he bid. "Your mother and I have a surprise for you that will explain everything."

Dutifully, Toph allowed her father to lead her into the house, refraining from informing him that she was perfectly capable of finding the way on her own. He seemed to garner such pleasure in "helping" her, she didn't want to spoil his happiness by revealing that she didn't really need it. She realized in his mind she was still the helpless, young girl that had run away from home. He might recognize with his eyes that she had grown up, but his heart had yet to register the change.

Filled with mounting dread and left with very little choice in the matter, Aang tagged along after them. Before he disappeared over the slope leading towards the house, he and Appa exchanged a woeful look. Both bison and master were incredibly sure it was going to be a long visit.

The moment they stepped foot inside the Bei Fong foyer a hushed silence settled over the household staff. However, that lasted mere seconds before a reverberating whisper took the place of the silence, as news was quickly spread throughout the house that Toph Bei Fong had finally come home. By the time they'd reached the Bei Fong master suite, both Aang and Toph were more than a little self-conscious.

Lao Bei Fong knelt down before his daughter. "Your mother is inside resting," he explained.

His vague manner alarmed Toph. "Is something wrong?" she demanded, her mind already playing out a number of dire possibilities. "She's not sick, is she?"

"She's better than she was," her father replied evasively, "and I know that it will do wonders for her to see you, Toph."

He hadn't even finished the explanation before Toph was hastily rushing past him and pushing open the double bedchamber doors. Her mother sat in the center of the bed, tucked neatly beneath the thick blankets, reading a book. However, the moment Poppy Bei Fong caught sight of her wayward daughter she threw aside her novel, her eyes flaring wide with incredulity and unabashed joy. "Oh my word…Toph?" she breathed, almost as if she were afraid to believe what was right in front of her. "Toph, is that really you?"

"It's me, Mom," Toph reaffirmed thickly. "I'm home." It took no more than that simple statement for Poppy to open her arms wide. Toph didn't hesitate. She hurled herself into her mother's open embrace with a relieved cry. Mother and daughter clutched one another tightly, weeping softly.

"I was beginning to think I'd never see you again," her mother murmured.

"I know and I'm sorry, Mom," Toph babbled contritely, emotion pouring out of her like a spouting geyser. She couldn't stop it even if she had wanted to. "I'm really sorry!"

Her mother framed Toph's face in her hands and peppered it with kisses, seemingly impervious to her daughter's dirt smudged cheeks and chin. "It doesn't matter," Poppy stated before hugging Toph to her breast once more. "You're home now. Everything else is in the past." She held Toph even tighter, almost as if she meant to absorb her daughter into her own body. It was during that tight embrace that Toph felt something strange.

Gradually, she became aware of the rounded protruding of her mother's belly which was pressing prominently between them. Toph slowly detangled herself from her mother's arms and stretched out her hand, scaling her trembling fingers over the ridge of her Poppy's abdomen. She snatched them back an instant later.

"No way…" she muttered in complete disbelief.

"That's our surprise for you, my darling," her father gushed excitedly. "That's why your mother and I couldn't come to you after we received your letter. Your mother's having a baby!" He practically beamed as he made the announcement, even as Toph cringed inwardly. "Isn't that wonderful news? You're going to be an older sister!"


	10. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine**

The rock sailed past his face just missing the tip of his nose. As he was blasted with its passing wind, Aang snapped from his meditative trance with a horrified yelp. Eyes flared wide, he watched as the jagged hunk of earth careened across the Bei Fong garden, loping off the head of a marble figurine along the way before embedding itself in the stone wall enclosure beyond with enough force to create a sizable dent _and_ crack the wall clear down to its foundation.

Toph snickered. "I so wish I could see your face right now!" she crowed.

Aang reflexively patted his face down for injuries before pinning her with a withering scowl. "That's not funny, Toph! The rock was this close!" he indicated, bringing up his hand to make a minute gesture. He pouted. "I _like_ my face."

"Yeah, it's a really _beautiful_ face too!" Toph gushed enthusiastically.

"You think so?" Aang piped. "I don't know if I'm so much to look at, but I…" He trailed off abruptly when it dawned on him how insincere Toph's compliment had been. Her trademark wave in front of her sightless eyes only added insult to injury. "You're an evil person," he deadpanned.

"I try."

"Whatever," Aang grumbled, closing his eyes in preparation to resume his meditative exercises. "Why don't you go throw rocks somewhere else? Can't you go find some hapless animal to torture?"

"Oh, but you're more fun!" Toph retorted. "Besides…why should I leave? Maybe you shouldn't meditate in my practice space!" She stomped the ground, popping out yet another large chunk of earth and sent it hurtling forward.

Aang raised his hand and, with a effortless flick of his wrist, disintegrated the rock mid-flight so that it became nothing more than a harmless spray of dust. He blasted off a wave of air, protecting himself from the rain of dirt and debris. The grainy particles ricocheted off the sphere and back onto Toph. She growled at him. He smirked back.

"Maybe you shouldn't practice where I meditate!" he threw back. He wisely floated to his feet when she started to stalk him. "Stop it! I don't want to fight you, Toph," Aang said, holding up his hands to stave her off. "What's with you? Why are you so crabby?"

"I'm always crabby!" she replied laconically. "You should be used to it by now!"

"Okay, well you can be crabby alone," Aang replied, straightening abruptly in affront. "Since meditating is obviously out," he declared meaningfully, "I'm going to have some fun and go for a swim in your parents' lake."

"Should you do that with your arm?"

"I'll keep it dry," he said. "It's already healing."

"If you say so, but just a heads up…my dad stocks that lake with golden piranhas," Toph warned before he'd even taken a step.

Aang froze and directed a slightly uneasy look over at Toph, his enthusiasm for swimming cooling considerably. He stood there in absolute silence, caught between believing her and dismissing her "warning" altogether. Finally, he announced dubiously, "I don't believe you. You're playing with my head, just like always."

Toph merely shrugged. "Suit yourself. If you want to provide the piranhas with a before dinner snack, it's no skin off my nose. It was nice knowing you though."

He started to walk away, only to stop short a second later and pivot to face her once more. "Are there really piranhas or is this just your way of getting me to stay here with you?" he demanded.

She snorted. "Twinkle Toes, I don't care what you do either way."

For some unfathomable reason, her seeming indifference to his companionship bothered him. As a result, he felt compelled to return her lackluster attitude in kind even when he actually would have preferred her company, tetchy as it was. "Fine," he said with some bite in his tone. "I'm going then. At least, I know the piranhas will be glad to see me." He turned away too quickly to notice the laughing smile that came to her face with that parting shot.

"Aang, wait!" Toph cajoled at his back as he began trekking towards the lake. "I didn't mean what I said before. Don't go."

Though her reluctance to voice the words aloud was quite palpable, Aang still appreciated the fact she'd made the request in spite that. With his annoyance instantly forgotten, Aang resumed his abandoned perch and waited for her to speak. When she did, he wasn't at all surprised that she managed to directly avoid addressing the thing that was bothering her.

"I want to leave," she announced instead.

That was the _last_ thing he expected her to say and Aang showed it. "But we just got here!"

"Yeah, and it was great," Toph replied. "I came. I saw. I hugged and now I'm over it. Let's head to the South Pole."

"Huh?"

As she balanced herself on the narrow, curving edge of a nearby fountain, Toph flashed him a smile. "Am I going too fast for you, Twinkle Toes?"

In a manner of speaking, she was. Aang had to shake his head because her frequent mood shifts were beginning to make him dizzy. "Are you messing with me again?"

She hopped down off her perch, hands plunked onto her narrow hips. "I. Want. To. Leave," she enunciated slowly. "Do you understand?"

"Toph, your parents are throwing you a welcome home party tonight," Aang emphasized.

"I didn't say we wouldn't stay for the party, if that's what has you worried," she reassured him. "I like a good party as much as the next girl. But after that we should get going."

"Um…what's the hurry?"

Toph shrugged and sent yet another rock sailing. "I don't want to wear out our welcome."

"But they're your parents," Aang reasoned slowly. "Aren't they expecting that?"

"My parents are very busy people, Aang," Toph pointed out, "with busy plans. Lots to do…especially with the new baby and all… We don't want to be in the way of that."

"Oooh…" Aang drawled with sudden understanding. "Now, I get it. That's why you're acting so strange. Toph, do you have a problem with the fact your parents are having another baby?"

"What? That is so…so lame," Toph scoffed, but her attempt at bravado was woefully transparent, even to Aang.

"You _do_ have a problem!" he cried in disbelief.

"Shush up!"

"What? Are you jealous or something?" Her normally inscrutable features twitched guiltily. "You've got to be kidding me!" Aang gasped. "You're jealous of a baby that hasn't even been born yet? That's so…"

"What?" she snapped in challenge. "It's so what, Aang?"

"Weird," he concluded frankly. Once again, Aang shook his head in bewildered dismay. "I don't get it."

"Oh, you don't?" Toph bit out in challenge. "Well, maybe that's just because you're magically wonderful at everything you do!"

"I'm not 'magically wonderful,'" Aang denied, a hot blush of consternation staining his cheeks. "And besides, this isn't about me. Toph, your parents aren't going to love you less just because they're having a baby."

"You don't think so?" she scoffed. "What if it's a girl…a _sighted_ girl? Or, better yet, what if it's a _boy_? My father gets a son and an heir. They'll have what they wanted all along and then they can stop bothering with me altogether."

She turned her head away to conceal the shameful tears that suddenly welled up in her eyes. Consequently, she didn't realize that Aang was approaching her until he reached out to take hold of her hand. Though she didn't jerk away from his touch, she stubbornly refused to turn her face towards him. Aang was undeterred.

"I saw your parents' faces when they saw you, Toph," he stated softly. "They were happy. I doubt they were faking for my benefit. Don't run away before they can prove to you just how much they _do_ love you." Toph swallowed audibly, but otherwise remained silent. Aang sighed. "You told me that I can't be so open all the time," he recounted, "and I think you were right about that. Sometimes, you _do_ need to guard your emotions. But, at the same time, you can't be so guarded all the time that you never let anyone in. You can't be so afraid of rejection that you automatically reject first."

Toph tugged her fingers from his grasp. "I'm not afraid of anything."

"I think you're afraid of needing your parents," Aang considered. "Or maybe you're afraid of letting yourself believe that they could need you too."

****

Aang cringed as Toph's yowl of fury penetrated the oak double doors and filled the corridor where he loitered somewhat impatiently. Moments later there was an audible thud, followed by a serrated groan. Not for the first time he wondered what they could possibly be doing to Toph in there. Whatever it was, it sounded excruciating. "Glad it's not me…" Aang mumbled under his breath.

During his earlier conversation with Toph in the gardens no satisfactory agreement had been reached on whether Toph would stay for the party only or spend a few days with her parents as had been the initial plan. She was intent on leaving and no argument Aang made had seemed to convince her otherwise. In the end, Aang had wisely recognized the futility in pushing her.

So, they had agreed to disagree and had gone for a swim instead, splashing around in the _piranha-less_ lake together until the servants had come to retrieve Toph so she could prepare her for the evening. One hour later, Aang was clean and dressed and waiting outside Toph's bedchamber where she was still being "worked over." If her howling were any indication, it wasn't going very well.

"_I said no touching my feet!"_ Toph blasted. Her enraged bellow was followed by a loud explosion and a series of crashes. Reconsidering the wisdom of waiting for her in light of her less than pleasant mood, Aang started to creep down the hallway to safety when Toph's bedroom doors suddenly flung open and she barreled through them.

As she stalked towards him, Aang stopped short, escape abruptly forgotten.

They hadn't finished with her yet. She was without her formal robes and clad in only a simple, white undergarment, bare feet and dark hair. Long, straight, dark, unbelievably beautiful hair. Aang had seen it unbound only once before and then it had been an unruly mess, hopelessly tangled and twisted with leaves and twigs. He had never imagined that it could be so incredibly thick and glossy or that it flowed nearly to her waist like an inky river. He had never imagined that the simple act of washing and combing one's hair could transform a person's physical appearance so thoroughly. Aang stared at her wordlessly, his mouth suddenly going dry.

"What?" she demanded impatiently when she sensed his trenchant stare.

"Your hair," Aang croaked. And then, realizing how hoarse and unrecognizable his voice sounded, he cleared his throat and added, "You…you look so different with it that way."

"Oh, right…_that_…" Toph sighed with a frown, sweeping up a lock of the aforementioned and flipping it over her shoulder. "It's a pain. There's so much of it. I wanted them to just lop it all off and be done with it, but—,"

"NO!" Aang exploded fervidly. His sudden outburst left Toph making a weird face. Acutely aware of her expression and growing more and more flustered as the seconds passed, Aang quickly amended, "I…I mean, you shouldn't cut it. What I'm saying is…it looks nice. Your hair looks nice, Toph." Having been able to voice that without making a complete fool out of himself, Aang heaved a sigh of relief.

"Oh…well thanks, Aang," Toph replied a little stiltedly. "You can breathe easy though. It wasn't going to happen anyway. My mom wouldn't hear of it."

Having ventured into unknown territory where their relationship was concerned, an awkward silence passed between Aang and Toph. She couldn't recall a single time he had paid her a compliment concerning her looks and neither could Aang. The fact that he'd noticed enough to even say anything at all baffled her…made her feel vaguely self-conscious. She stamped down the reflexive desire to smooth down her hair and Aang made a deliberate effort to stare at his shoes. It was a weird moment.

He tugged at his collar uncomfortably. She blew locks of hair from her eyes. Neither of them moved a single inch.

Finally, Aang broke the painfully uncomfortable silence and said, "Well…uh…I guess you should be getting back inside there, huh?" He nodded towards her bedroom.

"Actually, I'm taking a break," Toph told him. "That's why I came out here. One of the servants told me you were in the hallway."

"Did you want to talk to me?"

"You were right about what you said earlier," Toph confessed bluntly, but then quickly added, "But before you go bouncing off the walls singing, 'I told you so,' hear me out. I'm still uncomfortable about the whole thing. I'm still pretty sure I'm setting myself up for major rejection. But…I guess I'll be fair and _wait_ for the actual rejection before I react. There? Are you happy?"

"That's not exactly what I had in mind, but I'll take it." Aang grinned at her. "Does that mean you're staying?"

"On one condition…"

"What's that?"

"I know you want to get to the South Pole as soon as possible," she prefaced nervously, "but, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like it if you stayed here with me…just for a little while, until I'm more comfortable." Because he didn't answer right away, Toph quickly added, "It's okay if you don't want to. I don't want you to feel like you don't have a choice or something."

"No. I want to," Aang said after a moment. "Of course, I'll stay, Toph."

Naked vulnerability settled across her features, softening them considerably. "You will?"

"Yeah."

Toph smiled at him and, in doing so, her features glowed radiantly. He couldn't recall a time when she had ever smiled at him that way and the effect was a like a blow to the chest. It literally felt as if he'd had the wind knocked out of him. This wasn't a smirk or a satisfied grin, but a genuine smile of pure gratitude. He found himself returning the smile in kind, even though she couldn't see it.

"Thank you, Aang."

He watched her disappear back inside her bedroom and vaguely wondered why he only felt mild disappointment at having put off his departure for the South Pole once again.

****

They were the talk of the evening.

It did not go unnoticed among the crush of Bei Fong guests how the young Avatar and the newly returned Bei Fong heiress seemed never to be without each other's company. Whether they were dancing with one another, flicking each other with food, bickering incessantly or generally making mischief among the guests, it was blindingly apparent to all present that they enjoyed being with each other. Consequently, the talk began and speculations on a possible betrothal between the Avatar and Toph Bei Fong began spreading through the room like wildfire.

Blissfully ignorant to the swelling gossip about them, Aang and Toph were currently seated at a long table at the very fore of the Bei Fong's grand ballroom. They were flanked by each of Toph's parents, with Lao Bei Fong seated on Aang's right and Poppy Bei Fong seated on her daughter's left. While her parents quietly conversed at the other guests sharing the table with them, Toph and Aang surreptitiously elbowed one another in a bid for space.

"Stop poking me!" Aang grated at Toph from behind a plastic smile.

"Then move over!" she hissed back. "You're practically in my lap!"

"You have plenty of room!"

"I can't even move my elbow without knocking into you!"

"What do you want me to do? If I scoot over any more, I'll be in your _mother's_ lap! Good grief, Toph, it's not like I'm an elephant-hippo!"

"For the last time, Aang, move or I'll move you!" she threatened.

Lao Bei Fong heaved a loud sigh of long-suffering and leaned over to whisper to his daughter, "Am I going to have to separate you two? You've been holy terrors this entire evening!"

The harsh admonishment in his voice quelled any further squabbling between them. "Sorry, Dad," Toph answered contritely.

"It won't happen again, Mr. Bei Fong, sir," Aang added dutifully.

Mr. Bei Fong leveled them both with a severe once over. "I expect better of the Avatar and his earthbending master," he stated implacably. "I trust we won't need to have this conversation again?"

"No, sir," both Aang and Toph answered simultaneously, only to make faces at each other the moment Lao Bei Fong turned away.

It was a rather aggravating quandary that they found themselves in. Though they had promised to stick together for the evening, Aang and Toph were now reluctant to be in one another's company because it seemed that the prolonged nearness to each other was beginning to have a rather bizarre effect. Each was unexpectedly filled with strange thoughts about the other and the resulting confusion over those unbidden musings was making them both little cranky.

Throughout the evening, Aang had found himself continually distracted by Toph in noticing things about her that had, heretofore, gone completely unnoticed by him. For instance, had her eyelashes always been so lush and long? Even a faded green, Toph had extraordinarily beautiful eyes. And her smile…was she smiling more radiantly than usual or had he simply failed to notice before?

Many times in his own mind, he had likened her hands to small boulders because of the power she usually packed in a punch. He had never thought of them as anything other than sturdy and capable. However, upon closer inspection, Aang realized that her hands were actually rather small and slender…almost delicate. _She_ was delicate. For the first time ever, Aang was seeing Toph…_as a girl_.

Likewise, Toph was noticing things about Aang too. Had he always smelled so good? She couldn't remember noticing before. His scent had merely been something she'd associated with his presence. When the scent tickled her nostrils, she knew he was there. Simple. She'd never considered whether it was a good or bad smell. But now she realized that Aang smelled of an intriguing mix of wind and rain and earth. He smelled like the very elements he commanded and she liked it.

But Aang's scent wasn't her only obsession. She was also strangely engrossed with the cadence of his voice, acutely aware of the low baritone quality it had now. How long had it been so deep? When had it changed from the high, cracking of before? Why hadn't she noticed before now? Why exactly did it matter to her?

The questions were driving her crazy, especially because Toph already suspected why she had suddenly become so pathetically preoccupied with the nuances of Aang. She was doing it again. She was developing yet another crush. First Sokka, then Zuko and now Aang. It was pathetic. It was ridiculous. It was completely unwanted and…

It was _happening_.

_Why_, Toph lamented inwardly, _why Aang, of all people?_ He wasn't anything like Sokka or Zuko, though she'd admired both boys for very different reasons. With Sokka, she had been intrigued by his ingenuity, his silliness and his sarcasm. With Zuko, she had been compelled by his honorable spirit, his bravery and his fortitude. Her reasons for liking Aang, however, were an enigma…

He wasn't overly sarcastic, though he was extremely silly at times. He was honorable and brave, but in a way Toph often found naïve. He was too sweet, too kind, too genuine…too good. And yet, she found herself liking those qualities about him, admiring those qualities…wanting to emulate them. After spending every day of the last month with him, the majority of that time alone, it had become quite impossible for Toph _not_ to recognize how wonderful Aang really was.

So, she had a crush. Toph readily admitted that truth to herself and decided to face it pragmatically. It didn't have to be a big deal. Likely, she'd be over it in week or so, just as she'd gotten over the others. Sokka had taken a bit of time, but Zuko had been surprisingly easy. She simply needed to keep her cool and wait for the weirdness to pass. Toph was sure that once she and Aang joined Sokka and Katara in the South Pole everything would go back to normal.

In the meantime, however, she desperately needed to distract herself from this sudden idea that Aang was hot. Consequently, she deliberately ignored him, amusing herself by eavesdropping on the private conversations of her parents' guests instead. Most of it was dull, political diatribes, but she zeroed in on one particular exchange that captured her attention immediately.

"…_I think it's a shameful disgrace!"_

"_I agree. Lao kept her a secret practically her whole life and then conveniently mentions her only after she runs off with the Avatar."_

"_Do you think he planned for this to happen?"_

"_I wouldn't be surprised. She's blind, after all. It's not like she had grand prospects in the husband department, even with all the Bei Fong money. And now she's landed the Avatar? That's no coincidence."_

Humiliation rushing through her and suffusing her cheeks with color, Toph abruptly pushed to her feet. "Dad, may I be excused?"

Her father frowned, concerned by her rapid breathing and obvious upset. "Are you feeling ill?" he asked solicitously.

"I'll be fine," Toph reassured him. "I just need some air."

She was already making her way towards the exit before her father even had a chance to respond. Suspecting the futility in chasing after her, Mr. Bei Fong nudged Aang. "Go after her," Lao bid him. "She'd more likely talk to you than me. Make sure she's alright."

The moment Aang stepped out onto the veranda, however, Toph grated, "If I'd wanted company, I would have asked for it."

"Your father is worried about you," Aang explained.

"Go back inside," Toph ordered him. "Tell him I'm fine."

"You're not."

"How would you know? Besides, I doubt anyone will miss me."

"Toph, it's your party," Aang reasoned. "People expect you to be there."

"That's where you're wrong!" Toph snorted bitterly. "They're not here to see me, Aang! It's all about you. I'm just the poor, little blind girl who's lucky enough to be your friend!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just go back inside, Aang!" she cried. "I want to be by myself."

Disregarding the order entirely, Aang came to stand alongside her. "You know I don't see you that way."

"But they do," Toph countered thickly.

He didn't need to ask who "they" were. "Since when do you care what other people think of you?"

"I don't care," she flashed back harshly. "But I don't like being thought of as a charity case either! I'm blind, but I'm not useless! That's why I didn't want to come back here!" Her voice broke off into a hoarse whisper, made raspy with unshed tears. "I'm nothing here, Aang."

"You're not nothing to me, Toph," he whispered.

He stared at her, his heart breaking for her as she fought back tears she was too proud to shed. While Toph carried herself with such self-assured confidence, she was just as vulnerable as the rest of them, perhaps even more so. Instead of confronting her pain and insecurities, most of the time she buried them deep and she tried to move on. Aang understood the attempt all too well. He did the exact same thing and, because he did, he knew that the wounds never healed that way. They only festered.

Moved with empathy for her, Aang caught hold of Toph's forearm and impulsively pulled her into a hug. Unsurprisingly, she remained rigid in his arms, not pushing him away, but not relaxing either. Aang remembered that time in the desert, when he had been in so much pain over losing Appa that he hadn't even been able to cry. He had been so full of rage and hatred that it had been impossible to feel anything else. But Katara had held him tight even when he was unyielding, even when he wouldn't acknowledge her touch. She had held him and held him until her love permeated the fiery wall of anger surrounding him…until he was at peace again. Aang did the same for Toph, resolving to hold her until she felt at peace again, until she could cry and let go of the bitterness that festered inside her.

When the first, gurgling sob escaped from her chest, the tension was still in her body and Aang held her. Her breathing soughed harshly in and out her lungs with the strain of holding back her emotions and still Aang held her. Her body trembled with the force of controlling the emotional rampage inside her and still Aang held her. And when the need to cry became too much and she finally gave into weeping against his shoulder, her back and shoulders still bunched tight in resistance, yet Aang continued to hold her then too.


	11. Chapter Ten

**A/N: Special thanks to InfiniteDragon, my new beta, for his help with this chapter.**

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

"Feeling better?" Aang chirped as he and Toph met in the corridor on the way down to breakfast the following morning.

"Last night never happened," she intoned flatly. "You get me?"

"Toph, there's no shame in cry—,"

"Never happened," she interrupted implacably, abruptly grabbing hold of his lapels and shoving him into a nearby wall. "We won't speak of it again. Got it?"

Aang held out his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I got it," he agreed, "Will you let me go now?"

Very gradually, Toph came to realize that she had Aang suspended off the ground and that her forearm was barred across his throat in an unintentional chokehold. She quickly released him with a mumbled apology. Aang cleared his throat and gulped in several, large breaths of air. "Remind me never to hug you again," he teased wryly.

Toph released a chagrined groan. "I don't know what came over me," she said. "I didn't mean to attack you, Aang."

"I know that," he replied, forgiving her easily, just as he always did. "If you don't want to talk about it, then we won't talk about it."

His easy acceptance left her stammering with justifications. "It's only…you know…I don't like being so…"

"Just forget about it," he interjected softly, placing a gentling hand on her forearm and effectively stemming her babble. "Let's go to breakfast."

And, like that, her unprovoked attack was forgotten. Toph had expected such a reaction from him, but his willingness to let the matter go didn't do much to ease her guilt. He had been there for her last night when she'd been a hot mess of emotion and, in doing so, had not asked for a single thing in return from her. For her to shove him against a wall and threaten him after all that just struck Toph as being extremely low. She felt horrible about it.

Maybe that's why Aang made such an effort to forgive and forget, Toph considered inwardly. _You already feel terrible and it's not like Aang would hold a grudge and make you feel worse than you already do, _she thought_._ Finally, it made sense to her. She decided then and there that Aang's forgiving nature wasn't the mark of a weak-willed wimp as she'd first concluded, but, in actuality it was an awesome quality in an equally awesome friend. She was fast coming to realize that Aang was a pretty spectacular guy, and it flustered Toph to no end that she thought so.

_Stupid, ridiculous crush!_

By the time they had entered the Bei Fong dining room, an uncomfortable silence had fallen between them, one that had been instigated by Toph. She couldn't talk to him, not when he was making her so crazy. Consequently, she sat on one end of the table and Aang, sensing her need to keep her distance, deliberately chose the opposite end, furthest away from her.

That was the first thing Lao Bei Fong noticed when he strode into the dining area with his wife on his arm. "You two aren't fighting again, are you?" he observed as he pulled out a chair for his wife before taking his own place at the head of the table.

"Please, no more," his wife added in a groaning laugh as she spread her napkin over her lap. "Don't you ever take a break?"

"Actually, that's just what we're doing, Mom," Toph answered her mother. "You can't spend day in and day out with someone, almost every waking hour without getting a little sick of them at some point." Had she possessed sight, Toph might have caught the amused looks that passed between her parents following that statement. "I'm taking a much needed Aang break," she finished in explanation.

"An 'Aang break,'" Aang guffawed incredulously.

"No offense, but you can be a little hard to take, Twinkle Toes."

"None taken," Aang replied in an obviously offended tone.

Poppy Bei Fong cleared her throat, intensely aware of the rising tension between the two teenagers. "So, I suppose that means you'd be uninterested in today's outing," she quipped in a deceptively neutral tone. "I had hoped we could all do something together."

"What outing?" Toph grumbled.

"I thought, perhaps, we could visit the marketplace today," her father tossed in, "…as a _family_."

Toph gaped. "What? But you never go out."

"There's a first time for everything," her father replied calmly.

"Since when?" Toph snorted. "And since when have we ever done _anything _as a family, especially in the public eye?"

"Your father and I thought this would be the opportune time to change things, Toph," her mother inserted quietly. "We're making an effort. Can't you do the same?"

While Toph bristled over her mother's calm, but pointed admonishment, Lao turned to Aang and said, "You're invited to join us as well, Avatar. After all the time you and Toph have spent together, you're practically a member of our family."

"Dad, stop calling him 'Avatar,'" Toph snapped capriciously. "He's _Aang_. Just plain old, normal, nothing very special about him _Aang_." For a moment, she didn't know if she was trying to convince her father of that or herself.

"Would you like to accompany us, _Aang_?" Lao Bei Fong inquired politely.

Aang slid a cautious look over at Toph. He wanted to go, but at the same time, he had a nagging feeling that Toph would find his presence unwelcome. She was still too self-conscious and embarrassed about what had happened the night before. Aang didn't want to make her feel any more awkward than she already did. "Maybe I should stay behind," he decided after a beat of silence. "I haven't spent very much time with Appa and Momo these last few days. I think they're starting to feel rejected."

"Well, I guess that settles it!" Toph practically crowed, "He doesn't want to go!"

"That's not what he said, Toph," her mother interrupted mildly before turning a smile towards Aang. "If you don't want to leave your pets behind, then please bring them along."

"I don't know if that would be a good idea," Aang hedged. "Appa's pretty conspicuous. It's probably better if I stay behind. But thank you for the offer."

"You see?" Toph grunted obnoxiously, "I told you he didn't want to go."

"That's because you're making him feel terribly unwelcome, Toph," her mother reprimanded. "What is the matter with you? You've been rude all morning. Aang is your friend."

As Toph turned ten shades of red over what was her second terse scolding in a five minute span, Aang made an effort to leap to her defense. "It's okay, Mrs. Bei Fong," he spoke up quickly. "Toph's right. We've been in each other's space for days on end this past month and it's been pretty stressful. It's time for a break…for the both of us."

Though she had gotten exactly what she wanted, Toph's head snapped up sharply at the mention of them "both" needing a break. Aang needed a break from her? Since when? For some reason, Toph was, not only affronted by the admission, but a little hurt over it as well. It was one thing for _her_ to say it. Aang knew how she was. She woke up obnoxious and rude. But for _him_ to say it…sweet, thoughtful, _sensitive_ Aang? The reality smarted more than a little. Toph ground her teeth, irritated with herself and with Aang. _Well, if he didn't want to be around her, she certainly didn't want to be around him either!_

Unbeknownst to his daughter, Lao Bei Fong was vibrantly aware of the crushed expression she was quick to conceal behind a façade of boredom as well as the concerned glances the young Avatar occasionally threw in her direction. He was still puzzling over their strange demeanors and trading curious glances between them when he announced, "So, it's settled. Aang will stay here while we go into town."

"Yes, I'll stay," Aang confirmed.

Lao wondered if either of them realized that _neither_ of them looked very happy at the prospect.

****

"I brought you back a little something."

Toph tossed a small canvas bag across the bedroom towards Aang. It landed with a soundless plop against his belly. Aang's eyes darted warily from the bag to Toph's inscrutable features. "Open it," she urged him.

Eyes narrowed with suspicion, Aang carefully set aside his most recent letter from Katara to open the sack and peer inside. "You brought me cranberry raisins!" he exclaimed gleefully. "I love cranberry raisins! They're one of my most favorite things about visiting the Earth Kingdom!"

Propping her shoulder against the doorjamb, Toph turned the corner of her lips into an amused smirk. "So you've mentioned like ten thousand times," she teased him. "Why do you think I bought them in the first place?"

"Thanks for thinking of me, Toph," Aang replied sincerely as he popped a handful of raisins into his mouth. "Did you have a good time?"

"Eh, about as good a time as you did," she quipped, "seeing as how my company has been so unbearable for you lately. Goodie for you. You had an entire Toph-free day."

It was impossible not to sense the underlying antagonism in her tone. Suddenly, the craisins tasted like a mouthful of dirt. Aang paused mid-chew and then swallowed deliberately. "Are…are you mad about what I said earlier?" he wondered in a careful tone.

"Nah," she replied sarcastically, "why would the fact you hate my company make me mad at all?"

"You said it first!" Aang threw out accusingly. "I was just trying to get your parents off your back about it!"

"Well, who asked for your help?" she flung back. "I can handle my parents, Aang! For your information, I managed that just fine for twelve years and without your assistance!"

"Wow, you're some kind of ingrate, aren't you?"

"I'm an ingrate?" she screeched. "What about you? I just bought you a gift and now you're screaming at me and calling me names!"

"Well, you started it!"

"'Well, you started it!'" she mimicked with a sneer. "Can you _be_ a bigger baby?"

"Okay, that's it," Aang decided, tossing aside the bag of treats and reclining back into his bed. He reached for Katara's letter. "I'm not going to fight with you, Toph. You want to be mad? Go do it somewhere else."

Steam practically sizzled from Toph's ears. She curled her hands into tight fists. "You're _dismissing_ me?" she demanded incredulously. "You have got to be kidding me!"

"Goodbye, Toph," Aang sang out, not even sparing her a parting glance. "Don't let the door hit ya where the Spirits split ya."

That was the final straw for Toph. After she had spent practically the entire day twisted in knots _over him_, the fact that he had the nerve, the unmitigated gall to dismiss her was simply too much. It seemed that all her confusion, fear and bewilderment converged into one giant ball of rage and, before she could process the myriad of emotions suddenly overwhelming her, Toph was lashing out. She stomped the ground, producing an earthen spike that jostled the underside of Aang's bed and sent him pitching through the air with a surprised yelp. He landed with an abrupt thud, inches away from her bare feet, seconds later.

Groaning in pain, Aang scrambled to his feet as Toph dissolved in unapologetic laughter. He glared at her. "You think that's funny?" he demanded angrily, pushing his face within inches of hers. "What's your problem?"

"What's _your_ problem?" she retorted back with equal fury.

"You're the one who started this whole thing!" Aang bit out accusingly. "This is exactly what you wanted so you don't get to be angry about it!"

"Don't act like you know a thing about what I want!"

"I guess you're right about that! I don't know want you want because you act like an idiot every time I try to get you to open up to me!" he yelled. "I'm trying to be a friend to you, but you make it _really_ hard to like you, Toph! And you know something else? I'm tired of it! You don't want to talk? Fine! Then just go away!"

He turned his back to walk away and Toph's anger boiled over. She couldn't help herself. She shoved him. The sudden tension that waved his body shimmied through the earth, vibrating in her feet and up her body. Toph held her breath, but Aang, while he paused in an obvious attempt to collect his temper and calm, did not retaliate. In fact, he continued to walk away from her. His determination to take the high road only made Toph angrier. She shoved him again. Once again, he didn't strike back, but he did whip around to face her with an infuriated scowl.

"Stop it!" he growled in warning.

"Make me," Toph goaded.

"If you're trying to provoke me, it's not going to work," he told her.

"Why?" she challenged. "Are you too much of a wuss? Don't think you can take me?"

Aang glowered at her, more offended by the fact she was trying to provoke him into a fight than he was by the implication that she could beat him. "Fighting won't solve anything. You think you're going to make yourself feel better by attacking me? Go ahead," he invited. "But when it's over, what's broken inside you is still going to be broken, Toph."

The words hit their mark and Aang knew it. As a result, he was fully prepared for the rock she scooped out of the doorjamb and flung at him. He bounded out of harm's way before she could hit him. Levitating above her on a sphere of air, he inquired almost cheekily, "Feel better now?"

"I'm going to break you into pieces," she threatened menacingly.

"You'll try."

Growling in thwarted rage, Toph came after him again, chasing him around the room relentlessly, bending with frenzied fleetness. Aang had little choice but to duck, dance and cartwheel out of the path of her unremitting missiles. She overturned chairs, knocked paintings askew, and completely demolished the floor and ceiling. The bedroom was utterly destroyed in her mad efforts to best Aang.

His constant evasion tactics only further annoyed Toph because, when he was off the ground, she couldn't pinpoint where he was at all. "You're running out of places to jump," she huffed. "Stop hopping around and face me, Aang!"

"That would make it too easy!" Aang retorted, narrowly vaulting out of the way of yet another attack. Aang landed on an unbroken space of wall, earthbending himself in place against the vertical. "Come on, Toph! Can't we just call a truce?" he beseeched. "You're getting tired and I am too."

Toph abruptly straightened with his verbal olive branch. "You're right," she conceded a little too easily, carefully inching herself closer to the wall where he hung. "I am getting tired. You win!" Aang expelled an audible sigh of relief over her surrender. "We can call a truce," she said, advancing closer, "Right after I do this!"

Before Aang could discern her plans, Toph had already reached out to yank the slab of earth where he'd attached himself, as if it were nothing more than a decorative rug. He was flicked from his perch rather ignominiously and thrown to the ground with a bone-rattling crash.

Toph threw back her head and crowed with victory. "_Now_ we can call a truce," she declared.

It was wrong and normally Aang wouldn't have even considered doing such a thing, but the need to wipe that stupid smirk off her face was too much. He earth-spiked her, catching her in the rear with the blunted tip. As if in slow motion, she was flung airborne with a comical squeak of surprise. Her hair, which had gotten progressively mangled as the confrontation bore on, came completely undone as she was pitched across the room. Aang choked back bubbles of laughter watching her limbs flail helplessly only to be robbed of all amusement when she landed atop him with a crushing plop. The impact knocked them both breathless.

For several moments they laid there, unmoving and hurting all over before Toph finally found the strength to lift her head. "I can't believe you just did that," she uttered in soft incredulity.

"Well, you were asking for it," Aang retorted defensively.

"Oh, I know that," she conceded. "I just never thought you'd give it to me. I'm a bad influence on you, Twinkle Toes. You're starting to pick up my bad habits."

The complete ridiculousness of their entire fight hit them simultaneously and they both broke into ironic snorts of laughter. Aang stared up at her, skeins of dark hair partially obscuring her features as it fell across her face and him, and he was suddenly struck again by how amazingly pretty Toph was. Even with her hair a disheveled mess and her face blood-red from exertion, she still managed to be breathtaking.

Before he had even really thought out the action, Aang was reaching up to brush her hair back from her face and cheeks. His touch was gentle and explorative and extremely tentative. Yet, even as cautious as the caress was, the feel of his fingers against her skin still had the power to freeze Toph's smile and, eventually, cause it to fade altogether. Her breath caught in a soundless gasp.

"Aang?" she queried hoarsely, trying to ignore how wonderful his fingers felt as they carefully tucked strands of hair behind her ears. "What are you doing?"

"Thinking…" he replied vaguely.

Her throat bobbed spasmodically. "About what?"

"About why I never noticed how pretty you are," he whispered.

He might have kissed her then. She might have let him. Or maybe they both would have been overwhelmed by the unparalleled weirdness of the situation and separated themselves. Either way, they were robbed of their opportunity to react when Mrs. Bei Fong's horrified shriek suddenly pierced the air. In a guilty blur of arms and legs, Aang and Toph scrambled to their feet and turned to face a completely flabbergasted and very displeased Poppy Bei Fong.

"Hi, Mom," Toph chirped inanely.

Mrs. Bei Fong hardly acknowledged her daughter, instead stumbling into the demolished guest room with a dismayed moan. She stared at Toph and Aang in open-mouthed shock. "What have you done?"

"We…we were…uh…redecorating?" Aang prevaricated weakly. Almost the second Aang made the statement, a painting, which had been hanging onto the wall by a thread, finally gave way and crashed to the floor. Though it took considerable effort, Aang and Toph managed not to flinch.

"Do you like it?" Toph asked her mother with an over-bright smile.

That was the absolute _wrong_ thing to say. Mrs. Bei Fong narrowed her eyes and crooked a finger at her wayward daughter. "That's it! Come with me, Toph," she commanded tersely, plucking her by the ear. "I think it's time that you and I had a conversation about how a proper young lady conducts herself."

"What's going on?" Lao Bei Fong demanded as his wife stalked past him in the hallway, dragging their protesting daughter in her wake.

"I'll handle your daughter," Poppy informed him, jerking her chin towards Aang's guest room. "You take care of the other one!"

Mr. Bei Fong entered what remained of his guest bedroom and emitted a low whistle of disbelief. "This is an absolute abomination," he mumbled in an under-breath.

"I can fix it," Aang reassured him quickly. "Or pay for it…or something…"

"I don't understand. What's going on with the two of you?" Mr. Bei Fong exacted pointedly.

"We were just playing around. Things got a little out of hand."

"Is that all it was?"

Aang frowned at him. "What else could it be?"

"Are you in love with my daughter, Aang?" Toph's father queried with surprising smooth candor.

At first, Aang was at a loss as to how to respond, but eventually he found his voice. "In love with Toph?" he considered aloud with a flustered grimace. "Why…what would give you that idea?"

"You obviously feel something for her," Mr. Bei Fong insisted, "and for her sake, as well as your own, I hope you figure out what that is and soon. I know Toph likes to present a tough façade to the world, but I think we both know how vulnerable her heart really is. Don't break it." He regarded Aang with a lingering stare before turning away. "I'll inform the servants to prepare another room for you since this one is unfit for human habitation."

For a long time after Mr. Bei Fong left, Aang stared blindly in his wake, swamped suddenly with pervading confusion. In a reflexive act of pure desperation, he began pawing through the rubble for Katara's letter, needing to touch a tangible reminder of her. When he found it, he expelled a loud sigh of relief.

He _needed_ that letter. He _needed_ to remember that he wanted to be with _Katara_. It was _Katara_ he loved. As confused and lost as he was, that was the one thing he had not forgotten and would _never_ forget. It had been his single, enduring certainty since the moment he'd come out of the ice and opened his eyes. Katara was his best friend, his heart. She and she alone had the power to make him the happiest he'd ever been and…the most miserable. The notion that he could feel all of that and be falling in love with Toph at the same time was too absurd to contemplate and yet…

There was no denying that he had wanted to kiss her. In fact, had her mother not walked in when she had, he might have likely done so. Horrified by the very thought, Aang crawled up onto the remains of his bed and carefully reread the contents of Katara's latest letter, comforted by the familiarity and sense of peace he found in her words.

_Dear Aang,_

_I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me, but I guess I should know better. It seems like you've been really busy since you left the Fire Nation and I'm sorry to hear things haven't gone smoothly for you. From what you mentioned in your last letter, I doubt Toph is making it any easier. Try not to take it personally and remember annoyance is how Toph expresses affection. Maybe that will make her surly attitude easier to deal with. _

_In the meantime, this is probably the part where I should say, "I told you so." After all, you could have taken me on your trip instead of Toph, right? But I don't want to do that. I have a feeling that's the last thing you need right now. Unfortunately, I can't be there in person to give you a hug so just so I'm sending you one in spirit. My arms are around you, Aang, and I'm holding you tight._

_I think about you every day. That sounds a bit pathetic, but I do. I thought coming home again would make everything right that was wrong before Dad left for the war, but it feels strange being here, a little foreign. Sometimes, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. I feel a little lost without you, so you're not the only one having problems functioning. And you know what? I don't care either._

_I also don't feel uncomfortable knowing how much you miss me. I feel glad. I want you to miss me, because at least then I know you won't forget me, Aang. I don't want you to be okay without me because I'm not okay without you. That sounds selfish and wrong and I probably would never admit it to anyone else but you, because I know you'll understand. You always do. Sokka thinks that I'm way too attached to you. He thinks I smother you and maybe he's right about that. Maybe that's why, even though I'm sure you've confronted the General by now, you haven't come to me yet. Maybe that's why I haven't had a letter from you in a while…_

_Now who's making who uncomfortable? I'm sorry. I know I'm not making things easier by dumping all this on you, but I needed someone to talk to and you've always been that person for me._

_I guess the point of this whole letter is…I miss you and I'm waiting for you. Come home soon._

_Love,_

_Katara_

Aang carefully folded the letter and slipped it inside the breast of his tunic, Katara's heartfelt words still ringing loudly in his mind. He had thought that time away from her would help ease the pain of knowing she didn't return his romantic feelings, but, in reality, it had only made matters worse. He was struggling without her and Katara, apparently, was struggling just as much. In retrospect, his agony over her inability to reciprocate his feelings seemed a trivial thing.

It shouldn't matter that he didn't have the relationship with Katara that he wanted. The relationship he _had_ with her was pretty awesome in its own right and he'd shown very little appreciation for it. Aang realized that now. He also realized that it mattered little that Katara didn't return his feelings. What he had with her was enough…_more_ than enough for Aang.

It was time for him to go home.

Decision made, Aang curled down against the broken bed and closed his eyes. His last thoughts before he drifted off into exhaustion were of Katara. He fell asleep with her smile fixed brightly in his mind, but it was visions of Toph that inevitably plagued his dreams.


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Chapter Eleven**

Toph snapped to attention and folded herself in an upright position in the center of her bed before Aang had even executed his knock on her open door, having sensed his presence as soon as he crept out into the corridor. She pushed back the covers and swung her legs over the edge of her bed, her lips curving in a wry grin. "You're still alive," she teased him. "I'm impressed. Not many people face down Lao Bei Fong and live to tell the tale."

"Glad I could impress you. Did you get in much trouble with your mom?" he asked her as he entered her bedroom.

"Not really," she replied. "Just a long, boring lecture on why good little girls don't roll around in the dirt with little boys. It's a shame you missed it."

He plopped down on the edge of her bed before sprawling onto his back with a loud sigh. "It sounds thrilling."

"I came to check on you after we were finished, but you were already asleep," Toph said. "What was up with that? You're taking naps in the middle of the afternoon now?"

"I was tired."

"Well, I _did_ beat you pretty soundly earlier so that's understandable. I'll try to go easier on you next time." Aang rolled his eyes at her assessment, but said nothing. Unaware of his silent amusement, Toph asked, "So did my dad give you a hard time?"

Aang squinted up at the high, vaulted ceiling of her bedroom, carefully phrasing his response in his head before answering. "I wouldn't use those exact words," he hedged, "but he did give me some things to think about though."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Like the fact that I should probably get going."

"What?"

"I'm leaving first thing in the morning," Aang informed her pensively.

"You're going to do what when now?" Toph demanded blankly, practically leaping off the bed. "What are you talking about? Did my dad say something to you about leaving? I'm gonna—,"

Her volatile reaction had Aang rolling upright and, before she could storm off and do something rash, he was snagging hold of her sleeve. "Toph, wait a minute!" he cautioned fervently, "Calm down! It's not what you're thinking. It's not like he told me to get out or anything."

"So what did he say to you?" she demanded. "Why are you suddenly so desperate to get out of here?"

"That was always the plan, right?"

"Yeah, in a week!" she exploded. "_We_ were supposed to leave in a week!"

"I just think I've overstayed my welcome here, that's all. Besides, you don't really need me anymore, Toph. You should be focusing on bonding with your parents, not hanging out with me. I'm distracting you from what's important." _And you're distracting me_, he added silently. "It's better this way."

Still, Toph seemed to sense what he had left unspoken. "And that's all it is?" she prodded suspiciously.

"That's all."

Though she couldn't see his face, his erratic heartbeat confirmed her suspicions. He was lying to her. "Come on, Aang, give it up," she pressed intuitively. "Are you saying all this because you really don't think I need you anymore or because of what happened between us this afternoon?" She could practically hear the blood drumming in his veins at the question. Despite that, he made a feeble attempt at bravado.

"Toph, we fight all the time," he dismissed in deliberate misunderstanding, "By now, I'd think something's wrong if we didn't."

Normally, she might have let it go, but his very reluctance to talk about it, which was completely out of character for him, spurred her on. In an aberrant swapping of roles, Toph actually found herself pressing the issue. "I'm not talking about the fight and you know it."

Once more, Aang feigned ignorance. "What are you talking about?"

"You know what," she insisted in an indefatigable tone, "After our fight...things got…a little bizarre between us for a minute there."

A part of Aang just wanted to continue dismissing the entire thing. He felt confused and guilty and uncomfortable and he wanted to act like nothing had happened. But he knew better than to expect Toph would allow him to continue to exist in denial. She was like a dog with a bone when she wanted something and he just knew she was going to keep at him until he talked. Consequently, he dropped the charade as quickly as he'd assumed it.

"'Bizarre' is an understatement," he scoffed anxiously, "I don't know what's happening between us, Toph! It's too crazy to imagine!"

"I'll say…" Toph mumbled.

"Which is exactly why I need to leave," Aang declared. "We've obviously been spending too much time together and it's starting to affect us in strange ways. I think we need some space."

Toph slumped forward with a loud sigh and then plunked down in the empty space beside him. "You're right," she agreed glumly. "What almost happened this afternoon—,"

"—If I even would have gone through with it," Aang interjected dramatically.

"—If I even would have _let_ you," Toph added in with equal drama, "…The whole point is, it should have _never_ even gone there. I mean, what were we thinking? What if we had actually…" …_what if we'd kissed?_ The question echoed unvoiced in her mind and Aang's too. A beat of silence passed between them at the thought and they both shuddered with bewildered discomfort. "I'm sure that neither of us wants to go there," Toph concluded finally.

"So I should leave," Aang decided with a nod of agreement.

"Not so fast," Toph prefaced. "I don't think it needs to be that extreme." She could practically feel the heat of Aang's "Are you insane?" glower on her face after she said the words. Despite the tense circumstances, Toph bit back a smile. "Look, the only reason things got weird this afternoon was because you were being too sensitive and sentimental. We had a close moment. Big deal. You shrug. You move on."

"A close moment?" Aang parroted skeptically. "That's all it was?"

"Okay, I'll admit that our dynamic has gotten a little funky lately, but there's a good reason for that."

"I'm listening."

"Usually, you and I have a more casual relationship," Toph went on. "We antagonize each other, we pal around, but it's not like what you have with Katara. But this last month, we've kind of had to learn to lean on each other so our feelings have gotten a little bit confused. Trust me on this. I had a…a crazy thing for Sokka a while back and I'm completely over it now. This will pass."

"You think so?" Aang wondered hopefully.

"I know so," Toph replied confidently. "Once we're back with Sokka and Katara, everything will go back to normal. _We'll_ go back to normal and it will be like this whole month never even happened." Her words were strong with certainty and conviction, which was as much for her benefit as it was for Aang's. "I don't think we should run away from each other, Aang, because that's like admitting there's something to run from…and there's not." A pregnant pause of silence stretched between them, much going unspoken. "Is there?"

Aang turned a glance towards her, trying desperately to read her expression following the question. But Toph, discerning his intentions, was careful to keep her features inscrutable. "No," he answered, finally looking away, "there's nothing to run from."

"I'm glad you see it my way," Toph replied with forced brightness, ignoring the odd confusion she felt over his answer. "Then it's settled. We'll stick to our original plan and spend a few days more with my parents. After that, we're off for the South Pole."

"But don't you want to stay here at least until your mom has the baby?"

Toph's features scrunched into a distasteful grimace. "Are you kidding?"

"It's a big deal, Toph," he considered. "I think your mom would want to have you here."

"Listen, I know you want to heal the world and everything," Toph began with dripping derision, "but staying here and holding my mom's hand while she attempts to push something the size of a watermelon out of something the size of a grape does not make for bonding time in my humble opinion."

Aang turned a queasy shade of green, clearly sickened by the matter-of-fact analogy. "Thank you for that graphic and rather unnecessary visual _about your mother_, Toph."

"My point is, staying here would be like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole," Toph sighed. When she sensed Aang's confusion at the metaphor, she clarified, "I love my parents. I wanted to see them and I'm glad we came, but… I don't belong here. No matter how much I wish that wasn't true, it's not changing. When I'm here, I feel like I'm pretending. I don't feel like me."

"Who do you feel like?" Aang whispered.

"Like a fraud. Like I'm trying to be the daughter my parents' want me to be," Toph said, "but that's not who I am."

"How do you know what kind of daughter they want? Have you asked them?"

"I just know," Toph insisted. "If I stay here I won't be happy, Aang. And, if I'm unhappy, I'm bound to make everyone around me unhappy too."

"So you're doing your parents a favor if you leave?"

"Exactly."

Aang snorted a laugh. "Right. You're running, Toph. I know that mode of operations better than anyone."

"Yeah, because you were just trying to do it ten minutes ago," she reminded him cheekily.

"It's not the same," Aang denied. "I came in here to talk to you about it. I could have just disappeared in the morning, which I _did_ consider, and let that be it, but I didn't do it. You deserve better than that."

"Gee, thanks for thinking of me," she sniped. "And give me some credit, will ya? I wouldn't leave without telling them goodbye. Sheesh. I'm not heartless!"

"I know you, Toph. Yeah, you'd say goodbye, but you wouldn't explain a thing about _why_ you were leaving."

Her jaw tightened, that small reaction doing much to confirm Aang's assumption. "What's to explain?" she groused, crossing her arms defensively. "They're just as uncomfortable around me as I am around them. They'll be happy to see me go. Trust me."

"I doubt they'll be happy," Aang replied, "but I do agree that they're uncomfortable around you. I think all of you are so afraid of saying or doing something to offend the other that you tiptoe around each other and no one really says what they feel. It's really sad and frustrating to watch. Someone has to change that, Toph."

"And that someone needs to be _me_?" Toph bleated unenthusiastically. "Why? I'm the kid, remember?"

"But you're also the one that ran away," he reasoned.

"Which you were totally fine with at the time if I recall—,"

"Look, I'm not saying I'm not glad you came with us," Aang interjected quickly in an attempt to soothe her mounting temper. "You had a good reason for leaving and you did the right thing. But Toph, you have to look at it from your parents' perspective too. You're the one who left home without a goodbye and didn't contact them for _months_. In their eyes, _you_ rejected _them_, not the other way around."

"Would it kill you to be on my side?"

"I _am_ on your side. I'm not going to try to convince you to stay," Aang sighed. "That has to be your decision. But don't leave without talking to them first, Toph. Give them that courtesy."

Eyes narrowed with aggravation, Toph growled at him. "Sometimes I hate you."

"Are you going to do it or what?" Aang demanded flatly, adopting her pushy attitude for once and finding that he kind of liked it…a little bit.

"Fine," she agreed tersely. "I'll do it first thing in the morning, but after that I don't want to have another discussion about feelings or emotions with you for the rest of the week. Got it?"

Aang smiled at her in pure satisfaction. "Got it."

****

"Aang and I are leaving at the end of the week."

Lao and Poppy Bei Fong digested Toph's abrupt announcement rather well. Neither of them so much as flinched. Truthfully, they had expected something along those lines when the young Avatar had made a point of excusing himself directly after breakfast. Consequently, they waited patiently for the servants to clear the dining table of dishes before they responded to their daughter's announcement.

Once he had dismissed his staff, Lao Bei Fong folded his hands together atop the satin tablecloth and inquired with deceptive calm, "So you plan to continue traveling with the Avatar then?"

"Aang's my family now," Toph replied simply. "I feel like my place is with him."

"And what are we, Toph?" her mother asked, hurt thick in her tone.

"You're my parents and I love you," Toph answered fervidly, "but I don't fit in here and you know it. Let's not pretend like I'm the ideal daughter, okay? If I stay, none of us will be happy."

"So you're leaving for our happiness?" her father queried. "Is that it?"

The question was so close to the one Aang had dubiously posed to her the previous evening that Toph decided to opt for complete honestly when answering. "It's not just about your comfort, but mine too," she replied candidly. "I…I always feel like I'm failing you. I am completely aware that I'm not the type of daughter you imagined for yourself and every time I'm around you I feel like I don't measure up."

"If we ever made you feel inadequate, Toph, that wasn't our intention," her mother rushed out. "We love you. We have _never_ found you lacking."

"Sure Mom, because a blind tomboy for a daughter is what you always wanted," Toph muttered. "You practically hid me from the world and that's when you believed I was a quiet, demure, helpless little girl. I can't imagine what you want to do with me now."

"We were wrong," her mother whispered remorsefully. "We know that now. But we did not keep you sheltered because we were ashamed, but because we wanted to protect you. We wanted to keep you safe."

"I know," Toph acknowledged. "But that doesn't change the fact that the person you believed I was never existed. This is me. This is who I _really_ am."

"To our credit, Toph, you never let us know who you really were," her father reminded her.

"You didn't want to know!" Toph fired back.

"On the contrary, we did," Lao Bei Fong countered. "I did. I wanted to know who you were, even though it frightened me because, for the first time in your life, things were happening to you that were beyond my control. I didn't handle it well."

"No, you didn't," Toph agreed.

"Neither did you," her father asserted. "You complain that your mother and I never knew you. On the same token, you have never given us the opportunity to get to know you. It's time you acknowledge your part in this situation."

"You want me to say it's all my fault?" Toph spat out bitterly. "Fine. It's my fault. Are you happy? Can I go now?"

"We're not looking to blame you, Toph," her mother cried. "We just want to know you. Can't you try to let us?"

"I'm trying," Toph mumbled emotionally.

"Then stay with us…please," her mother pressed. "We can use this time before the baby comes to get to know one another better. I _want_ to know you, Toph. I want to be close to you."

The offer was tempting. Like any other young girl, Toph wanted her mother, _needed_ her. But long suffered insecurities died hard. While Toph wanted to believe with every fiber of her being that only good things could result from staying, an insidious voice from within warned otherwise. She thought of the baby growing and thriving beneath her mother's heart and knew it was only a matter of time before getting to know her better would rank low on Poppy's priority list. Toph didn't want to set herself up for the inevitable rejection, even if part of her realized her mother wouldn't be doing it on purpose.

Finally, she shook her head. "I…I can't," she said. "Aang needs further training in his earthbending. I…I can try to be here for when the baby comes, but I won't make any promises, Mom. I'm sorry."

As Poppy Bei Fong broke down into sniffling tears of disappointment over her refusal, Toph's father masked his burgeoning hurt behind a wall of anger. "So, yet again, you're choosing the Avatar over your own family?" he accused.

"It's not how you make it sound," Toph protested stiffly.

"How much of your determination to leave has to do with your feelings for him?" he demanded sharply.

Toph frowned at his phrasing. "I don't know exactly what you're asking me, but I already told you that I consider Aang family."

"If that's the case, you should be as willing to leave him as you are to leave us!" her father flung back.

"Maybe that's because Aang doesn't judge me!" Toph retorted. "He lets me live my life on my own terms! In fact, he _encourages_ it!"

"Of course, he does," Lao Bei Fong scoffed. "He likes to pretend he has no parents just as you do!"

"Aang doesn't have parents," Toph interjected softly. "In fact, all his people died a long time ago. He has very few people in the world he can count on as family and _I'm_ one of those people. Aang needs me. You don't."

Mr. Bei Fong's features flickered with guilt at her answer, which ironically, served to fuel his anger rather than lessen it. He glared across the table at his daughter. "I'm sure he has others besides you, Toph," he argued.

"You and Mom are about to have another baby," Toph volleyed back as she made a brave attempt to ignore her mother's noisy tears, "but that doesn't seem to make you any less determined to get me to stay."

"I'm not denying that he cares about you—,"

"—We are family," Toph stated implacably. "You will never be able to imagine what we've been through together. You don't just walk away from something like that, Dad. It bonds you for life."

"Toph, I won't deny that you've been through things I can't even fathom. You've matured a great deal in a very short time," he began diplomatically. "Far from the helpless little girl we imagined you were, you have proven yourself to be a capable and resourceful young lady. _However_," he added, holding up a hand when Toph opened her mouth to speak, "I put strict emphasis on the word _young_. You are still only thirteen years old."

"I know how old I am, Dad!" Toph retorted sarcastically.

"Then you should also _know_ that thirteen is far too young to go gallivanting across the countryside without any parental supervision whatsoever," her father countered coolly.

"I just ended a war," Toph reasoned, brows furrowed with irritation. "Are you really going to try and convince me that I'm too young to travel on my own after _that_?"

"That was never what I wanted for you," her father reminded Toph tartly. "In fact, if you'll remember, I expressly forbade against traveling with the Avatar. You disobeyed me and left anyway."

"So is that what you're trying to do now?" Toph demanded. "You're going to tell me I can't leave? Really? Because that worked out so well for you the last time."

"Enough of that, young lady!" her father bellowed suddenly, slamming his hand into the table and causing Toph to startled in frightened surprise. "I know you like to believe you are an adult, but you are _not_! We are still your parents and you will speak to us in a respectful manner! Is that clear?"

Toph wisely bit back the sharp retort poised on the edge of her tongue. "Yes, it's clear."

Satisfied, Lao relaxed back into his chair. "I'm not a fool to believe that forbidding you to do anything will influence your actions," he intoned calmly. "You've already proven that you will do what you please regardless of the consequences! I wouldn't presume to waste my breath in trying to get you to do otherwise! However, you _will_ hear our feelings on the matter. That is not negotiable."

"Fine!" Toph agreed in a slightly mutinous tone. "What do you want to say?"

"We're not trying to force you into doing something you don't want to do," her mother reassured, her words lacking the heat and edge that her husband's had. "My darling, we are understandably concerned."

"About what? I think I've proven by now that I can take care of myself," Toph argued. "My friends are responsible and dedicated. Even though you still see us as children, we aren't. We _aren't_ children."

"This isn't about whether or not you can take care of yourself," Mr. Bei Fong said. "Your mother and I don't think it's proper for you to travel alone with the Avatar anymore."

Toph gaped. "Excuse me?"

"We've seen the way you two are with each other, Toph," her mother declared. "You're far too familiar with him."

"We're friends and we've pretty much lived together for the past six months!" her daughter deadpanned. "It's a little hard _not_ to be familiar, Mom."

"And that's all you are?" her father challenged. "Just friends?"

"_YES!_" she cried. "Why won't you believe me?"

"We're only concerned for your well being, sweetheart," Poppy soothed, hoping to take the edge off her husband's probing manner. "You and Aang are in such close proximity with one another day in and day out. It would be easy for things to become…misconstrued," she finished carefully.

"Misconstrued how?"

"Well, you're both going through a lot of changes right now," Mrs. Bei Fong responded somewhat uncomfortably, "and those changes might affect how you two view each other."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Aang is just my _friend_," Toph emphasized, yet in light of her recent feelings the declaration seemed like a lie. Toph felt her cheeks grow hot at the thought and, unfortunately, her parents saw it. Fortunately for her, however, they were unclear on whether she was blushing because she was lying or if she was blushing because she was embarrassed by the direction of the conversation.

"Toph, listen to me," her mother urged fretfully. "You're only just now coming into your young womanhood and sometimes you begin to feel new emotions that you don't completely understand. It's…it's a very natural thing that happens, but sometimes being close to a boy can…can confuse certain things."

"Mom, is this really necessary?" Toph groaned, hot tides of embarrassment waving through her.

"If you're determined to go out and live your life as an adult, we want you to be prepared for _adulthood_," Mr. Bei Fong declared frankly. "We're not doing this to humiliate you, but to enlighten you, Toph. It isn't easy for us, but it's something we should have done long ago."

Snapping her mouth shut, Toph tried not to squirm in her seat as her mother resumed her explanation. "Aang is a very sweet young man," Poppy went on, "and I can see why you're so attached to him. I just…I want you to…know your heart, Toph. You…you seem like you have a level head and…and I want you to use that," her mother stammered on. "Don't let yourself be ruled by your emotions because sometimes they can deceive you. Do…do you understand what I'm trying to tell you?"

Poppy Bei Fong's features were livid with color by the time she finished speaking and she had a very difficult time looking at Toph. Not that it mattered. Her daughter was already half hidden under the table.

"Oh, please…" Toph whimpered, wanting desperately to earthbend herself through the floor, "…please tell me this isn't your attempt to…" She trailed off into silence with a shuddering moan. "Listen, you don't have to go there! I know where babies come from so spare us both this humiliating conversation and take comfort in knowing that I absolutely do NOT want to make babies with Aang!" At her rather horrified and loud admission, her parents slumped in visible relief. The leaking tension from their bodies trembled throughout Toph's entire frame. "Ugh, is that what this was all about?" She dragged both hands down the length of her face, shivering in disbelief. "Thank goodness, Aang left when he did!"

"It's not like you talk to us," her father pointed out. "How were we supposed to know? You pointed out yourself that you and Aang are no longer children! We needed to be sure."

Toph curled into a small ball of pure mortification. "Can I die now?"

"We didn't mean to embarrass you," Poppy Bei Fong half laughed, half sobbed in relief. "We only what's best for you, Toph, and we couldn't allow you to leave here without being sure it was the best thing."

"We want you to be safe physically _and_ emotionally," her father sighed in agreement, the anger leaking out of him at last and leaving behind only hollow sadness. "You left us long before we were ready to let you go. We're still trying to adjust that reality, Toph. You need to be patient with us."

"I'll try," she whispered hoarsely. "I promise. And I'll come back home. I will. I want you to know me…and I want to know you too."

"All we're asking is for that chance," her father whispered. "That's all we want."


	13. Chapter Twelve

**A/N: Special thanks to my beta, InfiniteDragon, on this part. He gave me some new things to think about.**

* * *

**Chapter Twelve**

"Didn't you used to live somewhere around here?" Toph screamed at Aang over the roaring winds.

They had left her home early yesterday afternoon. It had been an emotional departure, fraught with tears from her mother and ending with bodily threats towards Aang from her father. The elder Bei Fong had promised swift and exacting retribution should anything untoward befall his daughter while in Aang's care. "Should any harm come to her," Lao Bei Fong had sworn quietly, "I will hunt you the length of _your_ days." By the time they had taken to the sky, Aang was understandably petrified and Toph couldn't stifle her laughter over his shell-shocked reaction. She'd rolled from one side of Appa's saddle to the other practically quivering with mirth. It was the first time Toph could remember ever appreciating her father's overly protective nature.

Now it was the following day and they had been flying for ten hours already. Toph suspected that Aang intended to make the trip to the South Pole in one straight shot, and that was not going to work for her. She was past the point of needing a break. She needed a nap! The sporadic ten minute personal stops they had taken along the trip simply weren't cutting it at all.

"Well?" she pressed when Aang didn't answer quickly enough. "Is your place close or what?"

"Yeah, it's close," he called back to her. "Why?"

"I want you to take me there," she declared.

Aang didn't even have to _think_ about the request. "No," he replied swiftly, "Not a chance." Seconds later, a leechie nut bounced off the back of his head. Aang didn't even flinch. That would have given Toph too much satisfaction. Contrarily, his resolved strengthened with her abuse. "I'm not changing my mind." His reward was yet another nut, that one thrown with considerably more force. "Ow!" he yelped with a whipping death glare at Toph. "Hey! That one hurt!"

"Then stop irritating me and do what I asked," Toph ordered.

"I'm irritating you?" Aang burst out incredulously. "Sure…yeah, I can totally tell about that one!"

"Just take me!" she fired.

"No!" Aang fired back, "There's nothing down there! Just leave it alone."

Despite his protests, however, there was a definite twitter of anticipation unfurling in Aang's belly…one that he quickly squelched. He wanted to see his boyhood home again, but at the same time, he was reluctant to deal with the pain and sorrow the visit would bring with it. It was a rather strange and confusing desire, longing to go home and yet not wanting to go there at all.

"Trust me, Toph," he said finally, "it would be a complete waste of time."

He should have expected she wouldn't allow the argument to die a quick death and she didn't. "Why don't you let me decide that for myself?"

"I'm telling you it's a waste of time," he insisted again, mildly aggravated because she kept pushing. "We'll reach the South Pole in another six hours if we keep flying. Just sit tight. We're almost there."

"Six hours?" she bleated in a strident wail. "Are you insane? I can't take another six hours of this! Momo can't take it!" She peeled the aforementioned from atop her head and thrust him forward. "Think of your lemur!" Backing up her protests, Momo perked up his head and launched off a stream of outraged chatter.

"Come on, you guys," Aang cajoled, "it's just a little while longer."

"In what universe is _six hours_ a 'little while longer'?" Toph complained. "Aang, I'm the only one who hasn't been to where you used to live! That's not fair. After the Western Air Temple, you've got to let me check the place out." When she was met with nothing except pensive silence, she added almost sweetly, "Please? You know it's got to be serious if I'm throwing that word in. If you make me beg, I'm going to hit you with another nut."

"Gah, Toph," Aang groaned in long-suffering, but she could tell from his tone of voice that he was already starting to waver. "If you're expecting something along the lines of the Western Air Temple, you're going to be disappointed, okay? There's nothing left of the Southern Air Temple except crumbling stone and overgrown weeds. It stopped being my _home_ a long time ago."

"I still want to go down there," she maintained stubbornly. "Besides, we could all use the break. Pushing us this way is cruel and unusual. If you won't consider me and the monkey, at least think of poor Appa!"

Aang heaved a disgusted sigh. "Fine! But we're not going to stay very long," he prefaced. "I mean it!"

His stubborn resolve did little more than provoke Toph's wide, satisfied grin. "Sweetness."

A few minutes later, they were landing in the empty courtyard below. Appa's massive paws kicked up a cyclone of dust and leaves upon impact with the ground. For a moment, Aang held his breath, waiting for the hazy cloud to clear and reveal the looming temple beyond it. Once the debris had settled, however, the scene revealed to him was the same one he'd left almost a year earlier: abandoned ruin filled with rubble and utter silence.

Aang slumped back into Appa's fur with a small, disappointed sigh. Though he'd known it was unreasonable to expect the abandoned temple had been transformed in his absence, he couldn't quite banish the idealistic hope that he might find somebody or _something_ there someday. Today obviously wasn't that day.

He allowed himself only a few passing moments of self-pity before he pulled himself together. After making a quick grab for his staff, Aang offered his assistance to Toph as she dismounted only to be swatted away for his trouble. Shrugging his amusement, Aang floated down from Appa on a pillar of air and then waited patiently for his surly companion to join him.

"You could have gotten down here much quicker if you weren't so stubborn all the time," he pointed out to her when she reached his side.

"What you like to call 'stubborn,' I call 'independence,'" Toph retorted jauntily. "Besides, how many times do I have to tell you—?"

"I know, I know. You don't need any help," Aang recited dryly. "But did it ever occur to you that maybe people offer their help because they _want_ to and not because they think you _need _it?" Toph opened her mouth to refute that, only to snap it shut a second later when she realized he wasn't the first person to tell her that. Aang smirked at her. "Yeah, that's what I thought." His smug response earned him a swift and powerful punch in the arm. Aang grunted in pain. "Ookay…I guess I had that coming," he mumbled, rubbing the sore spot.

"Now, if you're finished being a smart mouth," Toph began breezily, "you can begin my tour anytime."

"You want a tour?" Aang snorted. "Of what?" He pivoted about, arms splayed wide as he presented the deserted ruins to her with comical flare. "This is it."

"You forget who you're talking to, Aang, and I _know_ there's more than this," she replied. "I want to go inside the temple."

"Toph, it's empty and it's dark in there and who knows was lurking in the shadows?"

"Aww…is widdle Aangie afraid of the dark?" Toph teased him, "Don't worry. I'll protect you."

Hardly amused by her humorous slights on his manhood, Aang made a dour face. "I'm just saying there's not much to explore in there," he clarified crisply. "I told you…it's mostly just ruins now."

"Maybe that's what _you_ see," Toph emphasized, already heading towards the temple, "but I see potential!" She skipped far ahead of him, impatiently waving him forward. "Come on, slowpoke! I thought you wanted to keep your precious schedule!" As she disappeared inside the recesses of the temple, Aang could only shake his head and roll his eyes in exasperation. Sighing heavily, he quickened his pace, left with little choice but to follow her.

The interior of the temple was gradually swallowed by thick darkness the further they retreated from sunlight, so much so that he had difficulty making out Toph even though she was only a few feet ahead of him. However, she made the task much easier with her endearingly obnoxious prattle, especially when, every few seconds, she would stop to gripe about how painfully slow he was. In an effort to keep up with her, Aang ignited a small column of fire in the center of his palm, illuminating his path with flickering light.

Yet, in an ironic twist, rather than acting as her tour guide, _Toph_ was the one who led _Aang_ merrily around the temple. She was the one who decided their route and basically explored where she wanted. Consequently, Aang did little more than answer her excited demands of, "What's that?" and "Where does this lead?" and "What's this room for?" Her gleeful "oohs" and "ahhs" and awed "wows" reverberated discordantly through the emptiness as she darted from one spot to another.

Aang wasn't proof against her excitement. It was impossible _not_ to see the temple through her eyes, and with Toph, it was like discovering it all over again. Her delighted enthusiasm was infectious and, as a result, it wasn't very much longer before he was smiling too.

They had entered yet another room, and he was in the middle of describing a scene in one of the faded murals splashed across the wall, when she asked suddenly, "Did the Air Nomads commission artists to do all these murals or did they do the work themselves?"

"We did the work ourselves," Aang replied, "The Air Nomads hardly ever solicited tradesmen from outside the Temples. The monks considered it a privilege to be chosen for the task of beautifying and maintaining our homes. Only the most spiritually dedicated Air Nomads received such the artistic privileges though. I guess that believed that only the most spiritually minded to capture the truest essence of our culture or something."

"So were you ever chosen to do stuff like this?"

"I was too young," Aang recalled, "though I think the monks thought I had potential…maybe because I mastered airbending so early. My people believed that the ability to bend and spirituality were very closely linked."

"Then you definitely would have been chosen," Toph decided sagely, "no doubt about it."

"I don't guess it matters now," Aang mumbled.

"Of course, it matters."

Aang frowned. "Why?"

"Because you're going to restore this place, that's why," Toph declared simply. "I think you were destined to do it."

His frown deepened. "What? I'm not restoring the temple. Whatever gave you that idea?"

Toph gaped. "Don't tell me you're just going to leave it like this?" she gasped dubiously. His silence confirmed that was _exactly_ what he planned to do. Toph gave him a shove. "You can't do that! This was your home, Aang! Have some pride!"

"So you plan to beat it into me?" he demanded irritably.

"I'm just saying this is still your home," she sighed. "I know you love living the life of a nomad, but…everyone needs to have a place they can call home, Aang."

Her words resonated with him, though he made a concerted effort not to show it. "I don't know…" Aang hedged. "What you're suggesting is a big project, Toph. I have other responsibilities. The war might be over, but there's still so much to do. I can't afford to spend the years it would take to put this place back together." But even as he protested, the idea of rebuilding the Southern Air Temple to its former glory was seductive.

"What if you had help?" Toph proposed. She reached out to tug his sleeve. "You know you have it…Katara, Sokka, Suki, even Zuko…and _me_. We'd all help you, Aang. All you have to do is ask."

"I don't know," he said again, his words slightly garbled with emotion. "Let me think about it."

"You need to think about it?" she demanded with a dubious snort. "What's the down side of this exactly?"

"Toph—,"

"I mean, it's only the chance to restore your home," Toph mumbled, more to herself than to him, "Why would that make you leap for joy?"

"I said let me think about it," Aang reiterated, aggravation rendering his words sharp and precise. "Bullying me isn't going to make me decide any faster!"

He braced himself for a punch or a shove or some other violent manifestation of her mercurial temper, but it never came. Instead, in a surprising turn of events, Toph backed down. "Fine," she conceded briskly, dismissing the subject as abruptly as she'd brought it up, "let's resume the tour."

"Wait a minute! That's it?"

"Let's just say, I'm attempting to be more like you, Twinkle Toes," Toph replied airily. "I'm taking a diplomatic approach. I made my argument, you said you'd think about it, so I'll leave it at that…for now anyway."

Aang was still grappling with the idea that he'd actually won an argument with her…sort of…as they traveled further and further into the temple. They meandered past the common area, past the Air Temple sanctuary until they were outside again in the eastern courtyard not far from where Aang had discovered Gyatso's remains. His footsteps suddenly faltered. Toph stopped short as well.

"What's up?" she asked curiously.

"We should head back towards the front," he advised, already turning to walk away, "It's getting late."

Toph started to question his sudden shift in mood when something caught her attention. "Wait a second," she replied, a frown of concentration creasing her forehead, "There's something's over there." She slowly followed the vibrations quivering in her feet. "I can feel it…it's so strange…"

"Forget about it."

"No," she objected, inching closer. "What is that…it's like…like…bones?"

"Toph, let's go!"

He hated the images that Toph's question sent tumbling through his mind. He thought of Gyatso, fighting with his last breath in a stand for the temple, taking life…and ultimately giving his own… It was difficult for Aang to contemplate the magnitude of the situation back then, not because he couldn't understand his former mentor's actions, but because he _could_…all too well.

What kind of shattered hopelessness had brought Gyatso to that place when he was little more than a caged animal fighting for his survival? What kind of rage and despair must have filled him? If discovering Gyatso's remains and losing Appa had so emotionally shattered Aang to the point where his reason had been obliterated and his one consuming thought was to lay waste, what had his disappearance done to Gyatso…a man who had loved him like a son? What had gone through his mentor's mind in those final moments? Had his last thoughts been of Aang? The questions remained unanswered, heaping Aang with more guilt than ever before.

"Toph, please," he practically begged her, "Let's get out of here."

"Did you not hear what I just told you?" she cried. "There are _bones_ over there!" He made a desperate grab for her, but she was already running off towards the tattered drapes concealing the entrance into the badly decayed building. By the time Aang reached her, she was already in the center of the room, wincing from the gruesome sonic images she received. Every angle she turned she was assailed with another image more shocking than the last.

"What is this place, Aang? What happened in here?"

"This is where Gyatso died," he answered thickly.

"Gyatso?" she echoed softly, suppressing a shudder. "Is…is he in here right now?"

"No. Not anymore. Sokka and Katara helped me scatter his ashes before we left here."

"So who are all these—,"

"Firebenders," Aang replied before she could complete the question. "I found Gyatso right over there, only a few feet from where you're standing right now."

Toph checked the impulse to jump aside. "How could you be sure it was him?"

"I knew it was him," Aang whispered around the lump of emotion forming in his throat. "I just knew."

While Toph knew the story of how Gyatso had died, bravely defending the temple, she had never been privy to the circumstances surrounding Aang's discovery. He'd shared plenty of happy memories from his childhood, but talk of Gyatso's fate was always something he had strictly avoided talking about. As a result, Toph was suddenly full of questions she'd never allowed herself to ask him before.

"Tell me about that day," she urged him so softly he almost didn't hear her. "What happened when you found him?"

After setting aside his staff, Aang cleared his throat before he began to speak, though it did little to lessen the hoarse quality of his words. "I was chasing Momo through the temple because Sokka had decided he wanted to have him for dinner."

"Typical Sokka…" Toph snickered.

"Well, I wanted him as a pet," Aang continued with a small laugh of his own, "and I was determined to get to him before Sokka did. Anyway, I chased him in here and that's when I found Gyatso." He closed his eyes briefly, the pain and horror that came with the memory as fresh as it had been the day it had happened. "It was the worst thing that had ever happened to me. I didn't take it very well."

"I'll just bet you didn't," Toph mumbled, "The way you flipped after Appa was stolen…" she paused on a shiver, "Well I don't really want to imagine it."

"It took some talking, but Katara calmed me down," Aang recalled with a bittersweet smile. "She reminded me that, even though the Airbenders were gone, I still had a family. She said that she and Sokka were my family."

"They are, you know," Toph reassured him. "So am I."

Aang nodded his acknowledgement of that fact before pressing on. "Afterwards they helped me to cremate his remains. There's a tradition among my people called a sky burial. We take the remains of the deceased and pulverize them. After that, we bake them into bread and then scatter the bread for the birds to eat. That way they become a part of the life cycle again.

"I wasn't able to do that for Gyatso," he went on, "Too much time had passed, and I didn't have what I needed. So, instead I burned what was left and then Katara, Sokka and I climbed to the highest point on the mountain, Gyatso's favorite spot, and I scattered his ashes there. I still remember how they looked as they floated through the air…like clay dust…" He swallowed, a little overwhelmed as he recalled the events of that day. "I remember Katara holding my hand the entire time. Her fingers were so cold, but her grip was really tight. I knew she wasn't going to let go and I knew that she'd meant what she said to me…that we were really a family. I think after that we were all pretty much inseparable."

"So something good did come out of the whole thing, at least."

Aang smiled. "Something _great_ came out of it."

"Well, now you only have one thing left to do," Toph told him.

"What's that?"

Toph raised her arms before abruptly bringing them down again in a sharp motion, earthbending the remains of the firebenders surrounding them beneath the ground. When the billowing of dirt settled, the room was left pristine, as if it had never seen the carnage that had occurred there. "_Now_ it's over," Toph whispered.

"You didn't have to do that."

"I did it because you wouldn't," she said.

"Does it matter?"

"I think it does," Toph replied. "I think you torture yourself about what happened here, Aang." She held up her hand when he would have protested. "Don't bother. You don't talk about it and we both know _why_ you don't. You still feel like it's your fault! Maybe part of you didn't want to wipe away the memory of this place because you believe you deserve to live with it."

"No, that's not it at all," Aang denied. "I've made peace with what happened here. I know that staying wouldn't have changed the outcome for my people. Maybe I would have died right along with them. Who knows? But you're right. Even knowing that, the guilt is still with me sometimes."

Toph stepped forward and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Stop blaming yourself," she told him. "It's over now and guilt won't bring Gyatso back. You've said goodbye to him. It's time to say goodbye to the rest of it, Aang." She gestured around the room; completely empty now…a clean slate. "Just start over."

Her simple encouragement was a healing balm that Aang hadn't even realized he'd needed. She was right. He _did_ need to let go of his guilt over what happened, but more than that. He needed to let go of his fear as well. That was weighing him down just as much as his residual guilt.

Aang had been scared for a long time now, and it was only in that moment that he realized just how much and how long. It had been fear that had prompted him to run away from Katara and to keep running for the last month. He'd found excuse after excuse not to join her in the South Pole because he hadn't wanted to hear her rejection. He had feared hearing it and, because he had, he'd hidden himself away from her. He'd hidden from the world and, consequently, he'd done them both a disservice.

Somewhere along the line, Aang had stopped trusting himself. He had allowed himself become so inundated with the fear of being hurt, of being left behind, of being unloved that he had allowed that fear to drive his decisions for weeks. It was the very thing he had been warning Toph against with her parents, but he had completely missed the signs in himself. But now he could see it clearly and Aang wasn't afraid anymore. He realized now that he'd never been in danger of losing Katara. She would always be his family, his friend, just as she'd promised him.

And, in coming to terms with that understanding, Aang found peace. It seemed fitting that Toph should be the one to help him come to that realization, a realization that she had needed herself…almost as if they had been destined to take the emotional journey together. Besieged by the sudden and strong connection he felt for her, Aang pivoted around to face Toph, surveying her through newly opened eyes. She was the same Toph she'd always been and yet Aang felt like he was truly meeting her for the first time. She was Toph in a completely different light.

Unaware of his swirling thoughts, Toph offered him a faint smile, her hand still resting lightly on his shoulder. He covered her fingers with his own and then, in a slow and deliberate move, gently swept her hand from his shoulder. He threaded his fingers with her and began rubbing the pad of his thumb across her sensitive palm. The moment he did so he could feel her body stiffen with tension at the caress, but she did not pull away. In fact, when he tugged her closer, she came willingly.

They stood inches apart, breaths mingling. The ground beneath their feet seemed to tremble with the cacophonic sounding of their mutual heartbeats. Though it was oddly difficult to do so, Toph managed to focus beyond the stiff rush of blood sounding in her ears and whisper his name.

"What?" he answered.

"What you're thinking… I don't know if it's a good idea."

"Do you think it's a good idea?"

She closed her eyes, leaning her forehead into his cheek. "I don't know what I think."

With tremulous fingers, Aang feathered a tender touch across her smooth skin of her cheek. "Maybe it's not a good idea, Toph," he agreed a little breathlessly, smoothly sliding his fingers into the hair at the nape of her neck so that he could angle her face towards his, "But then again…maybe it is."

He didn't give her the chance to reply, but closed his eyes, leaned in and pressed his mouth to hers.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Chapter Thirteen**

Toph felt warm all over.

Liquid sensation began in her lips and melted throughout her entire body, clear down to the tips of her bare toes. She was ridiculously aware of every line of Aang's slender frame, the delicate, swollen contours of his mouth, the tentative feel of his fingers skimming her cheekbones. His kisses began cautiously, little more than a soft exchange of breath that gradually grew deeper and deeper. She returned those kisses with racing enthusiasm, emotion quickly overriding reason.

The sheer magnitude of the moment made Toph a little dizzy. That she was experiencing her first real kiss was beyond exhilarating. That she was experiencing that milestone with Aang was both confusing and, strangely, exciting.

She'd rarely allowed herself to fantasize about her first experience kissing and, when she had, she had never, not until very recently, imagined Aang's face. Now that it was happening, Toph felt almost breathless at the reality. Right then, at that exact moment, kissing Aang made perfect, absolute sense. Not only did she like and trust him…she liked the way he kissed. She felt safe with him, needed and wanted. And it felt so good to be wanted… But, in spite of that rushing high, something niggled at Toph. She couldn't help but feel something vital was missing…

Aang's kiss was enjoyable and sweet and everything that a first kiss should be, but there was no explosion of feral need, no grand epiphany on her part. She didn't arrive at the sudden realization that Aang was "the one." It didn't feel as if their souls had intertwined. Absent were the crashing emotions people made in reference to falling in love. The heavens didn't part. The birds didn't sing. There were no blinding electrical currents, no limb shaking tingles, no butterflies in the pit of her stomach.

Instead, her response was purely chemical. She reacted to his touch because it felt good. She kissed him back because it felt good. Her heartbeat quickened. Her body quickened, but really that was all there was. She felt little more than the simple satisfaction, the lazy pleasure of sharing a first kiss with someone she respected and admired. It was an experiment…a game, oddly thrilling and awakening a very natural desire within her, but…it wasn't love. Was it? It couldn't be. Somehow, Toph had imagined an emotion vastly different from the one she was feeling.

She wondered vaguely, that if she found the kiss lacking in something distinctly magical, what must Aang think of it? What if he was expecting something from her that she couldn't give? What if this moment meant more to him than it did to her? Toph didn't know and, because she didn't, suddenly kissing Aang didn't seem like such a good idea after all.

Overwhelmed and confused, she abruptly shoved out of Aang's arms. She took several stumbling steps backwards, shuddering anew when she darted out her tongue to moisten her lips and tasted him there. Her heartbeat thudded rapidly, quickened by the mass of conflicting emotions colliding inside her.

"Well, that was the stupidest thing you've ever done!" she declared harshly. They weren't the first words she'd meant to speak. They weren't even the words tucked away in her heart, but they were the ones that came easiest.

Aang blinked at her, understandably confused by her erratic mood swing. One moment she was returning his kiss and seeming to enjoy it and the next she was attacking him. "Ookay," he uttered, a slow frown creasing his forehead. "What just happened? Are you mad at me right now?"

She was mad at him and, because she knew that her anger was irrational, Toph made an effort to keep calm and put matters into perspective. "Look, Aang…I know you were feeling vulnerable and you weren't thinking," she stated with forced serenity. Her battle to regain her composure was failing miserably. She was shaking so badly the ground beneath her quivered. "We weren't thinking. That's all it was. We weren't _thinking_," she rambled. "Let's just forget it happened."

"Forget it?" Aang echoed. "Toph, we just kissed." She visibly winced at the reminder, leaving Aang even more bewildered. "That's _huge_. I think we should talk about it."

"What's to say?" she muttered. "It was a mistake."

Aang was only mildly surprised by her reaction. On some level, he had expected a freak out. Truthfully, he was freaking out a little himself. "We knew this was coming, right?" he reasoned thickly. "We both wanted it to happen and now we need to deal with that."

His forthright response only provoked further lashing out. "What part of 'not a good idea' did you miss, Aang?" she cried. "What in the world made you think I _wanted_ you to kiss me?"

"Maybe because you kissed me back!" he threw back in accusation.

"Yeah…well, that was just a… a reflex…" Toph hedged dishonestly. "It's not like I liked it or anything!"

"Could have fooled me," he muttered.

"Stop it!" she retorted sharply. "This is wrong on _so_ many levels! I'm not Katara, Aang!"

Aang scowled at her, the sudden mention of Katara filling him with anger and yet another emotion he couldn't quite identify right then. Guilt? Shame? Whatever it was, Aang immediately went on the defensive with Toph. "What does Katara have to do with this?" he demanded. "You're the one bringing her up, not me!"

"You don't have to say a word, Aang!" Toph spat. "Don't kiss me just because you can't have her!" She made the wild accusation, half wanting to believe that really _was_ his motivation for kissing her and half wanting to provoke a fight for the sheer hope of undoing what that kiss had done. The usually confident earthbender was a hotbed of internal turmoil, angry with him for kissing her at all, longing to kiss him again in spite of that and furious with herself because she couldn't make up her mind about it.

"I kissed you because I _wanted_ to, Toph," he emphasized flatly. "It had nothing to do with Katara at all. It was about you and me."

"There is no you and me."

"There's something," he insisted obstinately. "We have to talk about it!"

"You're just…you're lonely, Aang," she tossed out, her words edged with desperation. "You don't know what you want and it's not fair to use me to figure it out!"

Aang snapped to attention with a confused wince, lacerated by her words. "Is that what you think I was doing?" he demanded in a broken whisper. The reactive tightening of her jaw was all the confirmation he needed. "You know what?" he cried suddenly, his usually amiable features twisted in a snarl, "forget about it! Forget about you, Toph! I'm tired of you pulling me close with one hand and slapping me with the other!" He yanked hold of his staff, pausing to rake her with an angry glare before snapping it open. "You want me to leave you alone? Fine! I will!" Seconds later, Toph heart the stiff whoosh of his glider as flew away.

Only when she no longer sensed him, did Toph sink to her knees with a remorseful groan. She fingered her lips, replaying their misbegotten kiss over in her mind before dropping her face into her hands completely. Her muddled thoughts were interrupted; however, by a sudden chitter sounding in the twisting weeds a few feet away. Toph turned towards Momo as he quickly approached. Apparently, the little lemur had grown tired of waiting for her and Aang's return and had taken it upon himself to come find them.

He chattered at Toph wildly in an attempt, she suspected, to scold her for being so harsh with Aang. "Don't take that tone with me," she sniffed defensively. "He didn't know what he was doing! Neither of us did!" Momo squawked in protest. "Well, what else was I supposed to do? It didn't feel right…not the way it should have anyway!" The flying lemur released yet another stream of screeches. "I did the right thing, Momo," she hissed fervently, unsure whether she meant to convince herself or the monkey, "I know I did."

****

Aang didn't return until well after the sun had sunk behind the horizon.

Though he'd had plenty of time to meditate while he was gone, Aang was still in no mood to talk to Toph when he returned. He crept into the camp when he thought Toph was asleep, pausing just beyond her tent to give both Appa and Momo affectionate pats. However, as he stretched himself out on the ground to settle down for the night himself, the entrance to Toph's rock tent abruptly slid open. Aang shifted onto his side and feigned sleep.

"Give it up, Twinkle Toes. I know you're not," Toph declared.

"I don't want to talk to you," he volleyed back.

"I know." Her easy acknowledgement of the situation did much to lessen Aang's resentment towards her, but surprisingly, he didn't turn to her immediately. Instead, he did what she might have done and decided to make her sweat. "I was a jerk to you and I'm sorry," she blurted. He still didn't turn to face her. "Aang, I said I'm sorry!"

"Good to know," he mumbled, "I'm going to sleep."

"Aang, please talk to me," she coaxed, "When you kissed me this afternoon, it freaked me out, okay! I didn't know how to react. You're the first boy to ever kiss me and you're…well, you're _Aang_! It was a little overwhelming."

The anxious confusion in her confession struck a particular chord with him. He remembered Katara voicing something similar to him that night on Ember Island. After months of turning over, what had seemed to be a lame excuse, in his mind, Aang finally understood what Katara had meant by being confused. If it had been anything close to what he and Toph were experiencing now, he understood all too well.

Softened by dawning realization, Aang felt the remainder of his anger drain out of him. He relented finally and rolled over to face Toph. "It freaked me out too," he confessed in a whisper. "I…I never imagined ever wanting to kiss you, Toph, let alone _doing_ it."

"I'm sorry it was such a horrifying prospect for you," she asserted dryly.

Aang blushed deeply, and he offered her a sheepish smile. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I know," she sighed.

"So what are we going to do about it?"

Toph left the sanctuary of her tent and scooted closer to him, her features were bathed in firelight as she did. For the first time, Aang noticed how puffy and red-rimmed her eyes were. He immediately felt guilty. If Toph was crying over this situation, then things were truly a mess.

"I don't know what to do about it," she said. "I'm really confused at the moment."

"Me too," Aang replied. "It's weird. I thought if I kissed you everything would make sense, but it still doesn't."

"What did you expect to make sense?"

"When I kissed you," Aang clarified, "I thought I'd finally have all the answers to how I felt about you, but… It wasn't quite what I expected it to be."

"It wasn't?"

"I mean, I liked it…_a lot_. I just didn't feel the way I thought I would."

"I didn't either," Toph confessed, "You want to know the truth?" Aang nodded for her to go on. "This whole time, I was kind of wondering if maybe I was falling in love with you or something—,"

"—You're in love with me?" Aang balked dubiously.

"_Thought_…I said thought," Toph clarified. "Now will you zip it so I can get this out?" Aang "zipped it" obligingly. "Now then," Toph resumed, "I thought it might be love and then you kissed me and… It didn't feel like love. I mean, it was a good kiss and I was into it, but it just didn't feel like love." She shrugged, emitting a humorless grunt under her breath. "Then again, I've never been in love before, so what do I know about it? Maybe that's the way it's supposed to feel."

"It's not," Aang disputed softly.

"Oh…" Toph chirped, a little speechless to have confirmation to her suspicions. "So you felt it too, huh?"

Aang propped himself onto his elbow. "It's not like I kissed you expecting to feel all the things I did with Katara, because I didn't," he explained quickly, "Not exactly anyway. When I told you I wasn't thinking about her, I wasn't lying to you. But I _did_ think that wanting to kiss you meant that I was over her, but…"

"But you're not?" Toph finished quietly.

He shook his head in miserable confession. "No, Toph. I'm not."

Toph slumped with relief, tension leaking from her body with an inaudible hiss. "Thank goodness."

That was far from the reaction Aang had expected. He scowled at her. "Excuse me?"

"I was so afraid you might have genuine feelings for me or something," she rushed out in a thankful stream, "it was making me sick to my stomach."

"Well…uh…thanks?"

"_You_ didn't make me sick to my stomach," she laughed, "I meant the situation made me sick! I felt horrible because I thought that you thought that you were in love with me, but I knew that you didn't know that I wasn't in love with you and after what happened with Katara, I didn't want to break what was left of your poor, fragile heart. But I didn't know that you already knew that you didn't love me and so I acted like a jerk because I thought that you thought that you did. It was a big mess."

Aang blinked at her. "I feel like you're telling me something important, Toph, but I'm missing it."

"It doesn't matter. This whole thing was just a weird misunderstanding." She smiled, flicking away imaginary beads of sweat from her brow. "Whew! I'm glad we cleared that up. Now we can put this whole awkward episode behind us! Night, Aang."

Her intention to crawl back to her tent and get some much needed rest was halted when Aang said to her back, "It's not quite over, Toph."

"What now, Twinkle Toes?" she groaned, reluctantly twisting towards him once more.

"We still kissed," Aang whispered. "We wanted to. We liked it. Doesn't that mean anything?"

"That you're a good kisser?" she ventured cheekily.

"Well, thank you," Aang replied with a gracious smile, "but that's not the point. What does it mean?"

"That _I'm_ a good kisser."

"Toph! Be serious! We're attracted to each other. We have to deal with that."

"Attracted to each other?" Toph echoed in a dramatic sigh. "Aang, come on! Don't make this so complicated!"

"Well, what do you call two friends kissing, and liking it, who aren't in love with each other?"

"Adolescence?"

"Always with the jokes," Aang grumbled.

"Twinkle Toes, don't get your underwear in a bunch. Maybe it isn't the serious matter you think it is. Maybe we're not attracted to each other at all," she reasoned, "Not _really_ really anyway."

"What? You're not making any sense."

"Hear me out," she soothed him quickly, "Listen, while you were gone, I had a lot of time to meditate on the situation."

Aang's mouth fell open. "You _meditated_?"

"Yeah," she replied with a saucy smile, "this bald kid I know told me that it's the path to enlightenment." While Aang was still grinning over that, Toph said, "So you need to be quiet for a minute because I'm about to drop some serious wisdom on you."

"Drop away."

"Okay, these are the facts. You're the first boy that I've ever liked that actually liked me back," she confided. "No lie. I've had crushes before, but I've never had a guy be interested in me or think I was pretty, much less _tell_ me I was pretty. Boys go for girls like Katara and Suki. I'm only the sarcastic sidekick. They only like me as a friend. You're the first one that didn't."

"But I _do_ like you as a friend, Toph."

"And you're also in to me," she added with a wolfish grin, "I have to admit, _that's_ an ego boost."

"So you kissed me because it boosted your ego?"

"I'm not saying that was a conscious motivation," she considered, "but I think that was part of it. I liked being wanted. I liked feeling pretty and you made me feel those things. I liked the attention. But, after you kissed me, I realized that's _all_ I felt. It didn't feel like falling in love to me. Now, I'll admit that _maybe_ I'm a little infatuated with you, but that's definitely nothing to risk our friendship over."

Strangely enough, her reasoning made sense to Aang, complete, absolute sense. He stared up at her in amazement. "How'd you figure all this out?"

She smirked at him. "That bald kid again," she replied, "_And_…I have a good head on my shoulders." Toph smiled to herself, thinking of that last humiliating conversation she'd had with her parents and realizing, belatedly, that they had actually paid her a great compliment.

"Okay, so that's why _you_ kissed me," Aang theorized aloud, "why did _I_ kiss you?"

"Oh, that's an easy one. Because I was safe."

Aang fell back into the ground, holding his belly and snorting with laughter. "You? Safe? Since when?"

She punched him firmly in the shoulder. "I'm dropping wisdom, remember? Pay attention!"

"Please," he encouraged, choking back his giggles, "continue."

"As I was saying," she emphasized in a highly affronted tone over his hiccups of hilarity, "I am safe and what I mean by that is, you could like me and even kiss me without the fear of having your heart broken. You took my advice, Twinkle Toes. You kept your guard up." Abruptly, his mirth died off at her assessment. He regarded her in a speechless moment as his smile gradually disappeared from his face. Toph quickly took advantage of his captive audience. "I couldn't break your heart, Aang, because you never gave it to me in the first place. It was easy to be with me because you didn't have to worry about being hurt…not emotionally anyway," she added with a wry grin.

"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard," he stated frankly. Yet, when he really thought about it, the theory didn't sound so ridiculous at all.

He had never thought about it before, but now that he did, Toph's theory had merit. His attraction to her had not come instantly nor had it been mired down with pervasive feelings of insecurity. The experience was vastly different from the one he'd had with Katara, when he was uncertain all the time, anxious and unsteady, ready to soar to the highest heights or plunge to the darkest depth depending on a smile or a frown. He didn't ride a wave of emotion with Toph, despite her constant moodiness. In contrast, being with her was a simple, straightforward endeavor and wholly uncomplicated. Honestly, he had needed that after months of emotional uncertainty, not just where Katara was concerned, but the war and his inevitable confrontation with Ozai as well. After all that, Toph had been a welcome change.

But she was right. It wasn't love. In a way, he was still running. He'd just found a new way to do it. Toph had been right to accuse him of using her. Guilt poured through him like corroding acid. Even when he had the best intentions, he still managed to muck things up. Aang regarded Toph with sad eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "It was never my intention to drag you into the middle of my mess. I didn't mean to use you, Toph."

"I don't feel used," she insisted and swiftly added when he would have argued, "Forget what I said earlier. I know you didn't use me, Aang. It just is what it is. You're still in love with Katara. Maybe you always will be."

"I wish I wasn't in love with her," he mumbled, more to himself than to Toph.

Still, she responded as if he'd addressed her directly. "I don't believe that," Toph refuted. "Sure the situation is tough and complicated and it may suck a little, but I think loving Katara is tattooed on your soul. It's a part of who you are, Aang. If you denied your feelings, you'd be denying yourself."

"You're really not making me feel better about this whole thing, Toph."

"Oh, snap out of it!" she ordered good-naturedly, "You're just feeling sorry for yourself."

"Why shouldn't I?" he cried. "I'm in love with one friend and I just kissed another!" He flopped back into the dirt with a long, serrated groan. "What is wrong with me?"

"Well, as far as the friend you kissed is concerned…" Toph murmured, nudging him, "…she's not complaining. I could have done much worse for a first kiss. Besides, even though it's been pretty crazy between us this last month, I'm not sorry about anything. None of it. I wouldn't change a single thing that happened."

"Neither would I," Aang decided after a thoughtful moment. "I'm glad I had this time with you, Toph. I think we were meant to take this journey together, not just literally, but emotionally too. We've never had the chance to spend time together this way before and I feel like I'm only just now coming to know the amazing person you are." She laughed at the assessment, surprised and humbled. "You _are_ amazing, Toph," Aang insisted, "and loyal and wise and fun and sweet when you want to be. You've understood things about me that I don't even understand myself. I don't have to tell you what I feel. You just know." He swallowed deeply, regarding her with a somber smile. "It's been a privilege getting to know you, Toph Bei Fong."

"Oh, stop it! You're giving me a toothache," she groaned, but her words were tempered with gentleness. Toph nibbled endearingly at her lower lip. "For the record, it's been a privilege getting to know you too, Avatar Aang." She reached out to deal him a playful punch to the shoulder. "You know, if you can drag such a corny declaration out of me, imagine what you could do with Katara by just telling her how you feel."

Aang's smile faltered a little bit, but didn't fade completely. "I've already told her, Toph."

"Have you?" she prodded sagely. "Have you really told her? Have you said things to her like you just said to me?"

The direct question had Aang rearing back suddenly. "Well…um…no. I guess I haven't."

"Maybe you should," Toph suggested.

"And what will that do?" Aang wondered glumly.

"Might win you the girl."

"I'm not holding my breath."

"Then it will give you closure," Toph declared. "If things don't work out the way you want then at least you'll know it's not because you left anything unspoken. You'll know that you did everything you could and held nothing back."

"But I thought you said I needed to hold things back," Aang reminded her wryly.

"Depends on the situation," she replied, her mood and motives as changeable as ever. "Tell Katara how much she means to you, Aang. I guarantee if you do that, she's not going to turn away from you."

"Wow, you go from kissing me to pushing me onto another girl in the space of a few hours," he laughed. "I'd probably be offended if I didn't know you better."

Toph grinned at him. "What can I say? I get bored easily." With the laughter that swelled between them, the last lingering vestiges of tension died off.

"Thank you, Toph," Aang said sincerely. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You're not going to ever find out." However, when he sat up with the full intention of embracing her, Toph planted a hand squarely in the center of his chest, thwarting his intentions. "Maybe we should just stick to handshakes for now," she suggested wryly, "at least until the whole 'we just made out' weirdness passes."

"Deal!" Aang agreed, taking hold of her hand and pumping it exuberantly. "I love you, Toph."

"I love you too, Twinkle Toes," she replied, thoroughly surprised by how easy it was to voice the words aloud.


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Chapter Fourteen**

Almost the entire village ran out to meet them when they landed.

Once he and Toph had descended from Appa, Aang scanned the excited faces in the crowd for one in particular, but came up empty. "Do you see her?" Toph demanded anxiously from behind. With her feet wrapped against the cold and deeply embedded in snow, her vision wasn't as sharp as it usually was. Though she could see next to nothing, her hearing was still sharp enough to detect the dozens of heartbeats, which blended together like the beat of a large, native drum.

"I don't see any of them," Aang answered in burgeoning distress.

The words had barely left his mouth before he was engulfed by the swarm of people. They pressed all around him with reverent murmurs of, "Avatar Aang," and "It's really him," and "He's really here." A few were bold enough to touch him, skimming their hands over his head and cheeks as if they feared he might only be a figment of their imaginations. Aang endured their presumptuous pawing with an awkward smile.

"Um…yeah, okay…that's…please, don't touch me there!" He jumped away with a yelp, providing as much space as he could between himself and the pressing crowd. "We're looking for Sokka and Katara," he declared, stubbornly staving off his admirers, "Do you know where we can find them?"

"They're not here," a familiar male voice answered out of the crowd. "Have some decorum, people!" the voiced ordered the people sharply, "Give the boy some room to breathe."

Aang was surprised when the multitude obediently fell away to reveal a stoic Chief Hakoda standing behind them. The young Avatar gasped, but recovered quickly and greeted Hakoda with a respectful bow. "Hello, Chief Hakoda. What do you mean 'they're not here'?" he asked, "Where did they go?"

"Sokka, Katara and Suki left for the Earth Kingdom two days ago."

"They left?" Aang balked, half frustrated, half disappointed, "And we missed them? I can't believe it." He frowned. "Why did they go? Where did they go?"

"They're on their way to Ba Sing Se," Hakoda explained. "It seems that the Fire Prince's uncle is reopening his tea shop there."

"Katara never mentioned that in her letter," Aang muttered to himself. "I had no idea."

"Perhaps you would have known that had you been here," Hakoda pointed out to him sharply. As Aang cringed over the mild rebuke, the Water Tribe chief added, "Welcome to the Southern Water Tribe, young Avatar. We were expecting you weeks ago."

"Um…yeah, my mission took a little longer than expected," Aang explained lamely. "I apologize, Chief Hakoda."

"No need," the Water Tribe warrior countered. "If anyone deserves an apology, it's _my daughter_."

"Please don't be mad at Aang, Chief Hakoda," Toph beseeched, coming to stand alongside Aang. "It's not his fault!"

"Yes, it is," Aang contested guiltily.

Toph elbowed him sharply in the ribs. "No, it isn't," she hissed at him, before returning her attention to Hakoda. "You see, I asked Aang to take me home to see my parents. We've always had a pretty rocky relationship and I didn't want to be left alone with them, so Aang stayed with me. He would have been here weeks ago, otherwise."

Hakoda listened to Toph's explanation in nerve-wracking silence, not revealing either way how he felt about what he was hearing. Aang mentally prepared himself for verbal castigation, but it never came. Instead, Hakoda merely released a tired sigh. "You two must be exhausted," he surmised. "It's a long, long way from the Earth Kingdom to the South Pole. Aang, why don't you come into my tent and rest a bit? Toph can go with the women to Kanna's tent and get cleaned up there."

"Are they going to feed me?" Toph wanted to know.

At last, a smile stretched across the chieftain's face. "Of course."

"Then I'm game! Later, Aang!"

Hakoda and Aang waited and watched as the women escorted Toph across the snow covered village before turning towards Hakoda's tent. Once the heavy, canvas flaps closed behind them, the older man didn't speak at all, but busied himself ladling hot liquid into two, small wooden bowls. He wordlessly passed one to Aang and then sat back to take a sip of his own. However, Aang didn't dare take a drink. He was too nervous and too acutely aware of Hakoda's intense and penetrating stare.

"I must admit that I'm a bit disappointed with you, Aang," the chieftain announced finally. "I always expected you were a young man of your word."

"I am," Aang insisted.

"If that were the case, we wouldn't be having this present conversation," Hakoda remarked. "I hope you realize that you hurt my daughter very much."

"That was never my intention, sir," Aang rushed out, "not at all. I honestly had a plan. It's just…nothing went the way I expected it."

"On one hand, I sympathize with you," the Chieftain sighed, "You're the Avatar and as such duty is always going to take precedence over your personal life. I should understand that better than anyone, but…"

"But?" Aang prompted reluctantly.

"_But_, I keep seeing the look on Katara's face as she would watch the sky every day in anticipation of your arrival," Hakoda recounted softly, "And then I keep remembering the inevitable disappointment and hurt that would come over her when you didn't show up like you promised."

The mental image Hakoda created with his words twisted Aang with eviscerating shame. "Things just got…really, really complicated," he mumbled lamely. "I never meant to take this long and I wrote to Katara explaining what happened."

"You also kept promising her that you would be here _soon_ and she believed you," Hakoda reminded him. "She told everyone in the village. She gushed on and on about it. I think she was especially excited over the prospect of you and me getting to know one another better." Aang groaned inwardly with the revelation. "Can you imagine how she felt, reassuring everyone that you were definitely coming, only to be disappointed again and again, day after day?"

Aang managed a rough swallow. "Um…I don't know what to say…"

"Tell me you have a really good excuse for disappointing my daughter and breaking her heart."

"I don't…only that I didn't want things to work out this way," the young Avatar mumbled miserably, clutching the wooden cup tightly between his hands. "I never thought she'd tell everyone…"

"You didn't?" the chieftain queried in surprise. "Do you have any idea how much my daughter loves you, Aang?"

"I know she loves me," he said, feeling even more wretched with the reminder.

"No, Aang," Hakoda clarified softly, "she _loves_ you."

The quiet emphasis he placed on the word finally penetrated Aang's senses. His heart tripped wildly in his chest, and he blinked at Hakoda rapidly. "Wait a minute," he cried softly, "what are you telling me?"

"Aang, when a girl wants to present you to her family and friends and invites you to her _home_ to do that, she thinks of you as more than just a good friend."

"Oh, oh wow…" Aang uttered, feeling overwhelmed, relieved, surprised, ecstatic and horrified all at one time. So many emotions were colliding in him all at once that he didn't know how he even managed to sit still.

"Didn't you know?"

"No!" Aang cried. "Is…is that what she told you?"

Hakoda shook his head, but before Aang could slump forward in defeat he added, "I didn't need her to tell me. Some things a father just knows about his child." A slow smile began spreading across Aang's face, one that Hakoda was swift to crush. "Don't look so pleased with yourself," he warned the young airbender, "Katara may love you, but I'm still on the fence about your intentions."

"I don't want to hurt Katara, sir!" Aang reassured him earnestly. "She means the world to me!"

"You have a funny way of showing it." Aang had the decency to blush at that, dropping his eyes in blushing chagrin. "I'd hate to think that you've taken my daughter's affection for granted," Hakoda pressed on. "After all, there are plenty of young men within our tribe who would jump at the chance to be with her. In fact, I can think of one in particular."

Aang snapped upright with a deep scowl. "You can? Who?"

"He's a strong warrior from a good and respected family," Hakoda said. "Though she'd never admit it, I know Katara had a bit of a crush on him once. He left for the war when Katara was only twelve. I don't think he knew Katara was alive then, but he definitely does now." He paused for a moment to let Aang absorb that bit of news before adding with a measure of satisfaction, "He has asked permission to marry her."

The revelation drained every drop of color from Aang's features. He felt dizzy and a little nauseous. "What…what does Katara think of all that?" he asked woodenly.

"I'm not sure," Hakoda replied with a shrug. "But they did spend quite a bit of time together before Katara left for Ba Sing Se."

That was the absolute last thing that Aang wanted to hear. Though it probably wasn't the most mature reaction, he had to bite his tongue to keep from screaming aloud his frustration. "And she didn't say anything to you about what she was thinking?" he demanded.

"I'm afraid not."

"Well, what do you think?"

"It's too early to tell," Hakoda replied vaguely.

"I thought you said there were some things that fathers just know!" Aang burst out accusingly.

"I don't know that," Hakoda replied, making a concerted effort not to laugh at the boy's obvious dismay.

He knew that he should probably let the boy off the hook and reveal that, despite avid attention from several different suitors, Katara was just as preoccupied with thoughts of him when she left as she had been when she'd first arrived. But he didn't do it. After watching Katara suffer for weeks, Hakoda thought the young Avatar deserved to squirm for a while.

"So who is this guy anyway?" Aang muttered dolefully, fairly seething with suppressed jealousy. "Is he tall?"

"Does it matter?" Hakoda countered.

"Maybe not to you," was Aang's grumbled response.

"Well, Katara wrote you a letter before she left," Hakoda announced, turning away briefly to retrieve the scroll, "She made me promise to give it to you if you ever showed up." He passed it to Aang. "Maybe that will help to shed some light on things for you." Aang stared at the rolled parchment in his hands, torn between opening it and not opening it. He let it fall limply into his lap.

Aang's anguished conflict was painfully evident and Hakoda wasn't indifferent to his pain. For the first time since the boy had arrived, Hakoda found himself softening considerably towards him. With a commiserative sight, the chieftain rolled to his feet and clamped a reassuring hand on Aang's shoulder. "She cares about you a great deal, son," he murmured, "I sincerely doubt she left you bad news." Aang wasn't very much reassured, however. Still, he made an effort to return Hakoda's kind smile.

"I'll give you a few moments to yourself," Hakoda said. He gave Aang's shoulder a brief squeeze and then ducked outside the tent.

Once alone, Aang looked at the scroll like he would a venomous leech-scorpion. He didn't even want to touch it, but he knew he had to. In his head, he could almost hear Toph admonishing him not to be such a wimp about it. _I'm not going to be_, Aang determined inwardly. Good or bad, he could handle it. With that firm resolve strumming in his veins, Aang unrolled the letter and began to read:

_Dear Aang,_

_I think you're avoiding me._

_Sokka and Suki tell me I'm reading too much into things. Even Gran Gran and Dad have been constantly reminding me that you are the Avatar and you have important duties to take care of. But they don't know you like I do. You've never let duty get in the way of us so I know it's something else that's keeping you away. Of course, Sokka thinks I'm being selfish. He says the only reason I have a problem with you being away is because I don't like sharing you. Well, you know what? He's right! I don't and I won't apologize for that, but that is NOT the reason I'm feeling this way!_

_I know you didn't stop being the Avatar just because the war ended. I know you still have a duty to the world and you always will, but this isn't the same. You know it and I know it. You haven't stayed away because of duty. Maybe that was it at first, but not now. It hasn't been like that for a long time._

_In the beginning, it was okay. I know you were injured, and so, naturally, you needed time to rest and heal. So I waited. Then, you told me you planned to take Toph home and join us afterwards, so I waited. Then I received your last letter. You said that you'd decided to extend your visit with the Bei Fongs because Toph needed you. That was it. You didn't say anything about how long you planned to stay or if you even still planned to meet me in the South Pole. It was then I decided that I couldn't wait anymore._

_I realized it wasn't about waiting for the right time for you to come. It was about coming to the realization that you didn't want to. That hurt a lot._

_Aang, why won't you tell me what's going on with you? Did something happen? Are you taking the General's death harder than you let on? Why won't you talk to me anymore? We've always talked. What changed? What did I do? What did I say? Why don't you want to see me anymore?_

_And I guess you don't. That has to be it. Nothing else makes sense to me. You've been complaining about how Toph has been driving you crazy for weeks now. The only reason I can think that you would choose her company over mine then is because you don't want my company. Is that it, Aang? Have your feelings for me changed? Do you not want to be with me anymore?_

_All of these questions are running through my head and I don't have the answers. I'm so hurt and confused, but I'm angry too. I'm angry that you would just blow me off without any explanation. I'm angry that you broke your promise to me. I'm angry that nothing I planned has turned out the way I wanted. But mostly I'm angry at myself because I can't help but wonder if all of this is my fault. _

_I wish I knew what you were thinking. A long time ago, I didn't even have to ask. I just knew. Now I feel like I've lost you and I don't even know how it happened. If you don't feel the same, at least, have the guts to tell me to my face! I deserve that, Aang. You know I do!_

_You said that we would talk things out when we saw each other again and I'm still choosing to believe you meant that. I want to talk things out, even if it's too late to change things between us. There are so many unspoken things between us, Aang. I don't want it to stay that way. Do you? If you don't, I'll be waiting for you in Ba Sing Se. Just look for me at General Iroh's teashop._

_Katara_

Aang set aside the letter and swallowed past the acrid lump of tears in his throat, feeling a little numb. Katara's words had revealed much and, at the same time, very little. He knew she was hurt and angry, but that much he'd gleaned from his conversation with her father, only now he had a clear view of the _depth_ of her hurt and anger. Beyond that, he didn't know what to think. While she'd made it clear that she no longer knew how he felt about her, she had managed to avoid directly stating how _she_ felt about _him_. It was frustrating!

Furthermore, there was something about the tone of the letter that he simply couldn't shake. One line reverberated in his mind over and over. _I want to talk things out, even if it's too late to change things between us._

What had she meant by that exactly? Was she saying it was too late? Was she indicating she'd moved on? Did she ever have any feelings for him at all or was she simply seeking closure? The longer he obsessed about the overt and covert meanings of the letter, the more questions he had.

"Ugh, Katara," Aang muttered to himself, "would it kill you to be clear for once?" He was met with little more than the sound of the wind whistling outside of Hakoda's tent for an answer.

****

He and Toph stayed for dinner.

Hakoda and Kanna had insisted and both young people were too tired and travel weary to refuse them. In all honesty Aang was happy to stay. He enjoyed sharing good times and good food with good people and the people of the Southern Water Tribe made him feel nothing less than welcome. He spent the entire evening as honored guest, dazzling them with airbending feats and being regaled with stories about Sokka and Katara's youthful antics. The laughter and fellowship did much to take Aang's mind off of Katara. However, by the end of the evening, with fatigue settling in and very little to distract him, Aang found himself brooding over the situation once more.

"I can't believe I actually thought sleeping out in the open was fun once," Toph complained later when she and Aang were settling down for the night. She wrinkled her nose in distaste at the thought of erecting her usual earth tent. "One week of sleeping in a soft, warm bed and now I'm spoiled."

Aang fed Appa a handful of grain, only half listening to her. "Yeah…I guess that's okay."

Toph snorted. "You're not paying attention to a word I'm saying, are you?"

"Huh?"

She growled at him. "Aang, don't make me find my bag of nuts."

"Okay, okay," he cried laughingly, throwing his hands up in surrender. "I'm sorry. I guess I'm a little tired and distracted."

"You're often distracted, but never tired," Toph declared. "You've been acting weird ever since you talked to Sokka and Katara's dad earlier. What happened? What did he say to you?"

Careful to keep his tone as neutral as possible because he knew how perceptive she could be, Aang replied, "Nothing."

His words were steady, but his quickened heartbeat gave him away. Even with her senses dulled Toph could still detect its wild thumping. "I know you're lying."

Aang sighed in defeat and finished divvying up the bag of grain between Appa and Momo before pivoting to face her. "Okay, it's not nothing," he conceded in exasperation, "I just don't want to talk about it."

Since it wasn't in Toph's nature to respect a statement like that, she didn't. "Talk or die, Airbender." Unfortunately, he wasn't the least bit intimidated and merely grunted in response. Toph quickly changed tactics. "Come on," she wheedled, "why are you being such a sour puss? Did Hakoda take a chunk out of you or something?" She snickered. "I bet that's it. I bet he reamed you good. Goodness, Aang, what is it about you that brings out the worst in fathers?"

"That's not it at all," Aang retorted.

"Then what is it then?"

"I don't know if I should talk to you about it," he hedged.

"Why not?"

"No reason."

"Ugh! Again with the lying?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"The truth would be nice," she flung back tartly. "I want to sleep some time tonight!"

Aang responded with a deep sigh. "It's no big deal. _Really_."

His emphatic tone didn't fool Toph. She readily recognized his evasion tactics by now. "Oh, I get it," she mumbled knowingly, "It's something about Katara, isn't it?"

"Right," he confirmed miserably. He slid down Appa's furry flank to sit on the snow covered ground, seemingly impervious to the cold.

Toph came to lean over him. "What is it?"

Aang stared up at her, torn between wanting to spill his guts to her and the awkward reality of actually doing so. "Maybe it's not a good idea to talk about it," he decided. "It feels weird after…well, you know."

"I thought we agreed to put it behind us," Toph reminded him.

"It's behind us."

"Then there's no reason you can't talk to me," she rationalized. "At this point, we definitely don't have any secrets."

"I guess you're right," he sighed. And then he took another deep, fortifying breath before blurting, "Chief Hakoda told me that Katara loves me!" Honestly, Aang realized that he wasn't heralding world news, but he definitely expected a bigger reaction from Toph than what he received. In fact, she didn't react at all. She didn't even twitch. He scowled up at her expectantly. "Well?"

"Well what?" she demanded blandly. "So Katara finally removed her head from her butt and realized what she had? It's not exactly a shocker, Aang."

"No, you don't understand," he lamented in frustration. "He told me in one breath that Katara loves me and then in the next he said she might be thinking about marrying some guy from their tribe!"

Yet again, Toph didn't react as he expected. She actually burst into noisy laughter so boisterous she had to wipe tears of hilarity from her eyes. Aang seriously considered earthbending her to the opposite end of the camp. "Wow, that was too funny," she sighed as her laughter died off into giggles. "Pure comedic gold!"

"I'm glad you're able to laugh at my pain, Toph."

"Oh Twinkle Toes, he wasn't serious!" she snorted. "This is Sugar Queen we're talking about here. Her dad was just giving you a hard time because you kept her waiting."

"Yeah, that's what I thought too," Aang muttered, "until I read the letter Katara left for me. That pretty much confirms she's given up on us!" He leaned his head back into Appa's thick fur, groaning loudly. "I didn't even know there _was_ an us!"

"Maybe you shouldn't jump to conclusions, Aang," Toph advised him.

Her sage caution fell on deaf ears. Aang abruptly lurched to his feet with a frustrated growl and began pacing back and forth in the snow, wildly gesticulating the whole time. "Gah! Why didn't she say something to me before?" he ranted, "This whole time I've been waiting for some sign from her, some indication that she wanted me to be more than a friend and she never said a word! And now that I finally know the answer to the question I asked her almost a month and a half ago, it's too late!" he concluded miserably. "This is insane! How did I manage to mess something up I didn't even know I had?"

Toph listened to his frenetic monologue with a sympathetic ear. She didn't make a single sarcastic crack. She didn't want to. Under different circumstances, she might have found the entire situation amusing if it weren't so incredibly sad. "I'll bet you're regretting spending this last month with me now, aren't you?" she surmised despondently. "I don't blame you."

The underlying sadness and guilt in her tone managed to shake Aang from his self-pitying haze. He bowed his shoulders forward and sighed, closing the distance between them. When he stood before her, Aang reached out and took hold of her hand. "I don't feel that way," he whispered. "What I said the other night, I meant it. I'm glad we were together all this time."

"But if we hadn't been," Toph protested, "maybe things would be different with you and Katara. I'd understand if you felt like these last few weeks were a waste of your time, Aang. I know how much Katara means to you."

He gave her fingers a gentle, reassuring squeeze. "They weren't a waste of time," he maintained. "I'll never think that."

Gradually, they became aware of the unintentional intimacy of the moment, and with guilty blushes, they quickly snatched back their hands and scrambled clumsily to put distance between themselves. Toph toed a nearby snow drift, flustered and uncomfortable. "Yeah, that was a bad idea," she remarked awkwardly.

"Definitely a bad idea," Aang agreed.

"And that's exactly my point," she cried. "We're all weird and spastic around each other now! Katara's confused and hurt. Hakoda probably hates your guts! None of this would have happened if you'd gone after the General alone!"

"It shouldn't matter!" he fired defensively, resuming his pacing. "She said in her letter that she got tired of waiting, but what about all the time _I_ waited for her? Almost a year, Toph! She couldn't wait a _month_?"

"Maybe you should wait to hear her side before making snap judgments," Toph suggested. "Katara's never struck me as the fickle type." But the reassurance wasn't necessary and she knew it. She wasn't telling Aang anything he didn't know already. He was angry and frustrated and said, but he knew Katara better than he even knew himself. If she had genuine feelings for him, and it was very likely she did, she wasn't going to give up on him easily. "What do you want to do?" she asked him.

"We're going to Ba Sing Se," Aang announced unsurprisingly, "We leave at first light."


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Chapter Fifteen**

When they stepped into the teashop, everyone literally froze. Though only five people were present, Aang felt like the entire world was staring him down. He gulped.

"I guess this is what they mean by a captive audience," Toph muttered to Aang in an aside. She scooted closer to him, smooshing Momo uncomfortably between their shoulders. After much squirming, the little lemur was able to break free and scamper to relative safety. "Is everyone gawking at us?" the blind earthbender hissed to her airbending companion.

"Yup," he answered shortly.

Toph swallowed down a groan of irony. "That's what I thought."

Very slowly, one by one, their friends came to their feet, their expressions ranging from surprise to speechless shock. Familiar and sorely missed faces filled Aang's field of vision, old and new friends draped in the latest Earth Kingdom fashions, but Aang zeroed in on one in particular. She was dressed in an ornate, lime green robe, her glossy, dark hair pulled back from her face and flowing loosely down her back. Aang had almost forgotten how beautiful she was and, when presented with the reality again after such long separation, the emotional impact was like a blow to the chest. Air leaked from his lungs in an enamored gasp.

After what she'd written to him in her letter, Aang fully expected to find Katara's blue eyes leaping with righteous anger, but she didn't look angry at all. Instead, her gaze was dark and shimmery with a mixture of solemnity and relief. He could read everything in her eyes and he knew unequivocally that she had missed him.

She smiled at him tentatively. He smiled back. A wealth of feeling transferred between them. In that moment, it felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders. But, in spite of that, Katara didn't come to him and Aang had already made up his mind that he wasn't going to go to her. If she wanted things resolved between them, _she_ was going to have to take the steps necessary to do it.

Sokka was the first to shatter the silence filling the spacious teashop. Smiling broadly, he jogged forward to greet the two dusty travelers with open arms. Suki followed his cue while Katara, Zuko, Iroh and Mai hung back, each one for very different reasons.

"Well, look who's alive and well!" Sokka laughed loudly. "It's about time you two showed up! We were starting to think we'd have to come after you." While Toph and Suki exchanged warm greetings, Aang and Sokka had their own reunion.

"Welcome back, buddy," Sokka said as he embraced Aang, adding in a whisper before he pulled back, "Just a heads up…you've got some serious explaining to do with Katara."

"Is she mad at me?" Aang wondered in a low tone.

"Not mad," Sokka replied, shaking his head. "Hurt."

Aang was still grappling with his guilt over that tidbit when Zuko approached him. The Firelord bowed before him respectively before awkwardly enfolding the younger boy in a brief, but friendly hug. "Glad you made it back safely," he told Aang sincerely.

Through concerted effort, Aang managed to break the silent stare he held with Katara and address Zuko directly when he replied, "It's good to be back."

"Uncle, could you brew us a pot of tea?" Zuko asked the retired Fire Nation general with a careless smile. "These two look like they could use a cup."

"It would be my pleasure," Iroh said. "Welcome back, Avatar Aang and young earthbending companion."

"Thank you, General Iroh," both Toph and Aang answered simultaneously.

As Iroh excused himself to fulfill his nephew's request, Zuko rocked back on his heels to regard Aang with a mildly sardonic expression. "You know, when I sent you after General Gang Huo, I never expected you'd make a vacation out of it," he teased wryly.

"If your idea of a vacation is being dragged through the desert in a net with no food or water then you seriously need to get out more, Zuko," Toph quipped.

"Is that what happened to you?" Katara wondered sharply. She cut a fretful glance towards Aang. "You never mentioned anything like that in your letters."

"I didn't want you to worry," Aang replied softly.

The air was fairly thick with the tension between them. Though they were separated by no more than twenty feet, the distance could have been an ocean-wide chasm for all the closeness they felt at the moment. It was evident that both of them wanted to bridge the space between them, but neither was willing to sacrifice their pride to do it. And so they exchanged wordless, but meaningful glances, saying much with their eyes even as they said next to nothing with their mouths.

Sokka cleared his throat loudly in hopes of easing the mounting stress levels in the room. "Um…Aang, Toph," he began, "you guys haven't had the opportunity to meet Zuko's girl yet, have you?"

"Zuko has a girl?" Toph guffawed.

"Yes, I do!" Zuko declared, clearly insulted by her unspoken insinuation that the idea was ludicrous. He stood aside to wave the aforementioned forward. "Mai, come over here. I want to formally introduce you to my friends."

"That's really not necessary, Zuko," Mai remarked as she came to stand alongside her boyfriend, "Once you've thrown a knife at someone's head, an introduction seems trite after that." Aang managed to swallow back his yelp of surprise at discovering that Zuko's girlfriend was none other than Azula's shuriken wielding sidekick. He might have noticed her before had he not been so focused on Katara. Despite, his best attempt to maintain his composure, however, Aang was horrified and must have looked it because Mai said, "Relax. I'm unarmed."

"You are?" he breathed in relief.

"Well no, not really," she contradicted dryly, "but I'm not going to attack you so you can drop the defensive stance."

Upon immediate awareness that he had, indeed, assumed a defensive pose, Aang relaxed. "Sorry," he mumbled. "Force of habit."

"It's okay," Mai replied with a measure of sardonic amusement, "I seem to bring out that side in you people."

"I'm definitely still reeling," Toph interjected loudly. "When exactly did this happen and where was I?"

"It happened a long time ago," Sokka sang airily. "You and Aang might have known that if you hadn't decided to disappear for a month."

"Speaking of your disappearance," Suki chimed in, "how did your visit with your parents go, Toph?"

"It was…surprising," Toph answered vaguely.

"It must have been," Katara commented from the fringes of their circle. "Aang only intended to drop you off and ended up deciding to stay."

"Well, that's because I found out some news that kind of freaked me out," Toph explained, "and Aang was good enough to stay behind and hold my hand."

"Why? What happened?" Sokka asked.

"I'm going to be a big sister," Toph announced wryly.

"What?" her friends chorused simultaneously.

"My mom's having a baby," she clarified. "It should be here in another three months."

"Aang didn't mention that in his letter either," Katara remarked woodenly. Yet another wordless exchange passed between her and Aang. He was the first to look away.

"That's my fault," Toph spoke up in Aang's defense. "I wasn't sure until recently how I even felt about the whole thing. Now that I've had some time to adjust, I think it's growing on me."

"Really?" Aang chirped, clearly pleased by her change of heart.

"Baby steps, Aang," Toph prefaced laughingly, "I'm taking baby steps, but yeah…it's growing on me."

"That's great, Toph," he murmured. The two traded soft smiles, smiles of mutual understanding and those smiles did not escape Katara's notice. She fumed inwardly. When Toph became aware of the sudden increase in Katara's heartbeat she wisely and discreetly put a bit of distance between her and Aang.

"So how long did you end up staying with your folks?" Sokka wanted to know.

"Just a week," Toph said, "and then we made a beeline for the South Pole."

"Wow. You must have just missed us," Suki laughed. "We were trying to delay leaving as long as possible because we didn't want you guys to get there and find us gone, but Zuko was getting impatient."

"What can I say?" the older boy sighed, "Being Firelord isn't all it's cracked up to be, trust me. It was time to get away." He heaved a maudlin sigh. "Sometimes, I almost miss living the life of a fugitive."

"I'll remember you said that," his uncle chuckled as he reentered the main area with a steaming pot of tea.

"Almost, Uncle," Zuko stressed. "I said _almost_."

Iroh merely smiled and began pouring out cups of tea when he noticed Aang and Toph stifling yawns from the corner of his eye. "You two are exhausted," he realized as he passed them their cups.

"We rode Appa straight through," Toph explained. "I was able to get some sleep in the saddle, but Aang's been up the whole time."

"I have a small room upstairs," Iroh told him. "You should go up and rest."

"No, I'm fine," Aang replied, only to spoil the protest with another broad yawn.

"Go to bed, Aang," Sokka nudged. "We've waited for you this long. We can hang tight a few more hours." He made the last of that statement while directing a pointed glance towards his sister.

"Sokka's right," Katara agreed haltingly. "You should rest. We'll be here when you wake up."

Aang didn't realize how rigid with tension his body was until she gave the reassurance. He practically melted into the floor with relief afterwards, but was quick to compose himself and mask the reaction. A few moments later, as Iroh ushered him off upstairs, Aang turned to look at Katara, his gaze holding hers until he disappeared completely from sight.

****

"He's pretty tired," Toph remarked as she exited the small apartment, startling Katara at the sudden sound of her voice. The taller girl jumped to a stop in her frenetic pacing and whipped around to face her.

"You scared me to death," Katara sighed, pressing a hand to her knocking heart.

Toph shrugged. "Sorry. I just finished getting cleaned up. How was I supposed to know you were going to be creeping outside in the hallway like a bandit?"

"That's not what I was doing!" Katara denied heatedly. "I'm just waiting for him to wake up. It's been almost two hours now."

"And it will probably be longer," Toph warned her. "I told you, we rode Appa all night to get here. Boy and bison are wiped out."

"Yeah, he did look pretty tired earlier," Katara mumbled. "I guess I'm just really eager to talk to him. Seems like I've missed out on a lot these past few weeks."

An awkward beat of silence thumped between them. Both girls fought the inclination to fidget, but for very different reasons. Katara was wondering what Aang might have possibly confided in Toph during the weeks they had spent together. She was jealous of the newfound closeness that seemed to have sprung between them, but felt she had very little right to comment on it. Toph, on the other hand, was wondering how she could possibly have a calm conversation with Katara when the kiss with Aang was still so fresh in her mind. She felt guilty; a guilt that was only compounded by Katara's all too obvious misery. Toph and Katara knew they needed to talk yet, at the same time, had little idea how to go about doing so.

"Why don't you give him a couple of hours?" Toph advised after clearing her throat inelegantly, "I'm sure he'll be ready to talk to you then." She started to walk away, eager to beat a retreat, but Katara stopped her before she'd even taken a single step.

"Toph, wait a minute!" Katara implored, "I need to ask you something."

With an inward groan, Toph pivoted around to face her. "What?"

Katara nervously twirled a lock of hair about her finger. "Did Aang...I mean...has he said anything to you?"

"Said anything about what?"

"About me. Has he said anything to you about me?"

Once again, Toph had to fight down the urge to squirm. The outward façade of calm she presented to Katara never betrayed even a glimpse of her inner turmoil, however. To Katara, Toph was as cool as she'd always been.

"Katara, maybe that's something you should ask Aang," Toph advised the older girl. She hoped that would put a swift end to the conversation. It didn't.

"I'm asking you," Katara insisted stubbornly only to receive Toph's equally stubborn silence. "Please, Toph," she whispered, "I need to know and I can't ask Aang. I don't think Aang wants to talk to me."

"It's not my place to say anything."

Katara dropped her eyes. "I don't know what to say to him, okay," she mumbled. "He's...he's been so distant lately and I don't know why."

"You don't know?" Toph flared, her temper rising abruptly. "Well, why don't you think about it long and hard, Katara? You're a smart girl. I'm sure you can figure it out!"

"Excuse me?" Katara burst out hotly.

"You want Aang to talk to you about what he's feeling?" Toph challenged, "Maybe you could try doing the same!"

"So he has _said_ something to you," Katara snapped knowingly. "I knew it!"

"What? He can't talk to me now?"

"It's between _us_, Toph."

"Oh please, Katara," Toph snorted, "You don't get to be jealous right now, not when this whole mess is your fault!"

Katara scowled at her, blue eyes narrowed dangerously. "What's that supposed to mean?" She folded her arms defensively. "And who says I'm jealous?" she bluffed.

"You might be able to fool everyone else, but not me," Toph reminded her.

"What's your point, Toph?"

"My point is you need to open your mouth!" Toph fired tersely. "Take some responsibility and go after what you want. Stop waiting on Aang to do it for you!"

"What? I'm not—,"

"Save it!" Toph snapped, thrusting out her hand for silence, "I'm not interested in your excuses! I'm going to tell you how it is and you're going to shut your hole and listen to me!

"Aang and I have gotten to know each other pretty well in the last few weeks," she recounted. "We've pushed each other's buttons and had each other's backs. We're close and I care about what happens to him. He's a great guy, Katara, and if you can't see that," she ground on, poking a finger in the center of Katara's chest for emphasis, "if you don't have the _guts_ to tell him what he means to you after everything that's happened, then leave him alone!"

Having said her piece, Toph turned on her heel then and stomped away, leaving Katara standing alone in the corridor, speechless and shaking in her wake.

****

Aang awoke in the gossamer haze of midday. For a brief second, he was disoriented to his surroundings and rolled over onto his side expecting to find Toph's earth tent. Instead, he was greeted with empty room and, gradually, he began to remember where he was. Sighing wearily, Aang flopped back onto his back and closed his eyes, contemplating his next move. He knew he couldn't put off talking to Katara any longer and, truthfully, he didn't want to. They had lived with uncertainty for long enough. It was time for them both to get the answers they needed and move on from there.

Resolving himself for the task ahead, Aang rolled to his feet and took a few moments to collect himself. However, when he pulled open the door to go downstairs to the teashop, he was surprised to find Katara sitting outside in the hallway, her back pressed against the wall and knees drawn securely to her chest. At the sound of his exit, she tipped a glance up at him.

"Hey," she whispered simply.

"Hey," he whispered back. "Have you been sitting out here long?"

She shrugged. "A couple of hours. Maybe more."

"You have not been sitting out here that long," he gasped incredulously.

"Yeah," she confirmed with a wry nod.

"You should have woken me up," he told her.

"It's okay," Katara replied. "You needed your rest and I needed this time to think of what I was going to say to you."

He folded down beside her with a sorrowful sigh. "You're mad at me," he surmised quietly.

"No, I'm not," Katara refuted softly. He gave her a skeptical look, causing her to duck her head with a sheepish blush. "Well, not anymore anyway." She spared him a timid glance. "Are you mad at me?"

"I…I don't know," he answered gruffly. "Everything is jumbled up in my head. But I want you to know that I didn't mean to keep you waiting as long as I did. I had every intention of keeping my promise to you and I kept it."

"I know," she whispered, "I was just…I was really looking forward to you being there."

He stared at her with round eyes. "You were?"

Katara bobbed a nod. "I missed you every day, Aang." They lapsed into uneasy quiet, sneaking furtive glances at one another from beneath their lashes. Finally, when Katara could stand the silence no longer, she blurted, "How's your arm?"

"Better," he answered hoarsely.

"Did it leave a bad scar?"

"Not too bad."

"Maybe I can look at it later," she offered, "if you want."

"Sure. Fine," Aang agreed. "You can look at it later."

It struck Aang as a little ridiculous that, after so long and with so much left unsaid between them, they would lapse into inane small talk and yet, it was easier to talk about those little things than the larger issues between them. "How is Master Pakku's school coming along?" he asked.

"Good. It's good," Katara said after a rough swallow. "There are six new waterbenders now."

"Six? That's excellent."

"Yes."

"So you're not alone anymore?"

"No."

"That's good."

"It's very good." The silence swelled thick once more. Katara occupied herself with twisting her hair. Aang concentrated on tracing the seams of his shoes. "Aang?" He jumped at the sudden sound of her voice. "Don't you think we should really talk about what's happening with us?"

"What's happening with us, Katara?" he wondered softly.

"You tell me."

"I haven't changed," Aang murmured. "I feel the same way about you that I always have, Katara." He looked her directly in the eyes and whispered, "I love you."

Tears of relief flooded her eyes and Katara had to quickly avert her gaze in order to keep them from spilling over. Her attempt was futile, however, and soon the tears were streaming down her cheeks in spite of her efforts. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she mumbled tearfully, "until just now…I wasn't sure if you still did."

"Does it matter?" he asked her carefully.

She regarded him with brimming eyes. "Of course it matters!" she cried. "I thought I'd lost you."

"You haven't. I'm here."

"I would have deserved it if I _had_ lost you," she muttered in a suffocated tone. "I haven't been very fair to you, Aang. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Katara, don't cry," he pleaded. Aang placed his arm around her shoulder and gathered her close. "Please, please stop crying."

But rather assuage her tears, Aang's pleas only seemed to make her sob harder. "I haven't been as honest with you as you've been with me."

Aang's heart lurched at the admission. "You haven't? Is this the part where you tell me you're getting married?" he wondered thickly.

_That_ made her stop crying. She reared back from him with a dubious grimace. "Married?" she balked. "Where would you get a ridiculous idea like that? I'm not getting married!"

"But your dad said—," Aang protested.

"My _dad_?" Katara interrupted stridently, "What do you mean 'my dad said?' Did he tell you I was getting married?" Aang face turned a brilliant shade of red at the question, igniting Katara's fury further. "I can't believe him! _He told you I was getting married?_ I thought he wanted to help me, not ruin my life!"

"He didn't exactly tell me that," Aang quickly back-pedaled, cringing at her wrathful display, "He just said there was someone who was interested. Is there?"

"There's a boy," Katara confirmed, "and I liked him once, but that was a long time ago before he left for the war. Before you."

"So he does want to marry you," Aang concluded dully.

"But I don't want to marry him." She regarded Aang closely, taking meticulous note of the misery stamped into his features. "Oh my goodness, you thought I did, didn't you?" she realized with dawning horror. "You thought I might be thinking about marrying someone else?" Aang nodded slowly, prompting a self-deprecating groan from the young waterbender. "Oh wow, I really have messed things up between us, haven't I?"

"What do you mean?"

"Aang, if you could think I was going to marry someone else, then I haven't been clear about my feelings for you at all," Katara lamented. Aang didn't bother to deny that fact, but because he didn't want to make her feel any lower than she already did, he refrained from making a comment about it. "Ugh, I'm such an idiot," she muttered to herself.

"Why don't you try making yourself clear now?" Aang suggested tentatively.

Their eyes collided in a pregnant moment of supreme intimacy as if they both recognized that the coming moment would change the course of their relationship irrevocably. Katara sighed as if she were preparing to divest herself of a huge burden. In many ways, that was _exactly_ what she was doing and it felt strangely…empowering.

"Aang, it took me a long time to figure out what I felt for you," she began shakily, "and when I did, then I had to decide what it meant and what I wanted to do about it. I know I've been slow, but I've been really scared. This is all new territory for me."

"For me too, Katara."

"I know," she acknowledged in a low tone. "And when I knew how I felt for sure, I just wanted it to be right when I told you. I needed to say the perfect words in the perfect place at the perfect moment. I didn't want to just blurt it out to you. You deserved better. I had this whole, elaborate plan in my head, but it didn't happen at all the way I imagined it would."

"It doesn't need to be perfect," Aang told her. "I don't need perfect, Katara. I need you. Just tell me."

She nodded, swallowing deeply before she whispered, "I love you, Aang."

He didn't realize he'd been holding his breath through her confession until the air expelled from his lungs in an audible hiss. "Are you sure?" he pressed. "You need to be sure, Katara, because I'm not going to let you take it back."

Katara smiled at him. "I'm not taking it back." Aang reached for her then, with every intention of kissing her breathless, but almost the moment his fingers grazed her cheek, Sokka came pounding into the hallway. They jumped apart. Sokka seemed not to notice their brightly colored faces.

"Good. You two have finally made up," he declared in a matter-of-fact tone. "I'm glad. The tension was really starting to bum everybody out."

Rolling her eyes over the criticism, Katara demanded impatiently, "What do you want, Sokka?"

"It's tea time. Iroh sent me up here to get you."

"We just had tea a few hours ago. Can't it wait?" she wondered with a desperate glance towards Aang. "We…we were in the middle of something."

"Yeah, but this tea is being served with dinner," Sokka stressed.

"We'll just meet you later," Katara said.

"Oh, no you don't!" Sokka retorted stubbornly, "You'll have plenty of time to catch up with Aang later." He snagged hold of Katara's wrist, ignoring her vehement protests, and yanked her to her feet. "Who knows when we'll have another chance to be all together like this again?" He dragged her towards the landing. "You're coming downstairs whether you want to or not! You too, Aang," he added sternly, "Shake a leg."

Aang watched Sokka pull a complaining and loudly complaining Katara out of sight before following behind them, a contented smile lingering on his lips. At the base of the steps, Toph intercepted him and anxiously drew him aside. "So? Did you talk to Katara?" she demanded without preamble. Aang nodded happily. "And?"

"She loves me!"

Toph bit back a smile at his boyish excitement. "Congratulations, Twinkle Toes!" she said. "Are you happy?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty happy," he confirmed, his smile broadening.

"Good. I'm glad," she murmured. "You deserve it." All too soon, however, Toph's smile began to wane. She nibbled at the corner of her mouth, her expression noticeably troubled. "Um…did you tell her…about…you know?"

Aang's smile mellowed a bit as well. "Not yet."

"Don't," Toph advised him, "Don't tell her."

"I don't want to lie to her," he protested.

"It wouldn't be lying," Toph refuted. "Besides, it's over. Technically, it never even began. There's no point in hurting Katara over something that never was and never will be." He started to argue further, but Toph reached out to tug his sleeve, quelling his objections. "Please, Aang," she implored softly, "Let's keep it between us. It was a special time and it meant something and if you tell Katara then it will be reduced to something shameful. I don't want that."

Aang nodded his head in understanding. "I don't want that either," he whispered, clearly torn.

"It's for the best."

"I guess so," he mumbled. "I don't want to hurt her either, but…it's there, Toph. We can pretend it's not, but it's still there. Eventually, she's going to know."

"It'll go away, Aang," Toph predicted, "and she won't know because I won't be here. I'm going back home tonight. Zuko said he'd give me a ride. I've thought about it and…my mom needs me, so I'm going back home."

"Wait! What?" Aang exploded in confusion. "When did you decide this?"

"When we left the South Pole," she confessed softly.

Aang reeled to discover that she'd been sitting on the decision that entire time and she hadn't said a single word. "Toph, you just can't ru—,"

"Don't argue with me," she interrupted fiercely. "You've waited long enough for this moment, Aang. You should enjoy it. You need this time with Katara without distractions. _We_ need this time so we can feel normal again and that won't happen if we're constantly in each other's faces."

"Why do I feel like I'm never going to see you again?"

"Don't be silly. You'll see me again," she promised. "We're rebuilding the Southern Air Temple together, remember?"

He growled in exasperation. "Toph, I never agreed—,"

"I said you're rebuilding the temple and that's all there is to say about it," Toph declared in a tone that tolerated no arguments.

Aang sighed in surrender. "Yes ma'am."

"Good," she commended somberly. She blinked rapidly to hold her coming tears at bay. "In the meantime, take care of yourself, Aang. It's been real."

She meant to leave it at that, meant to walk away from him without any overemotional goodbyes because she knew that was the only way she was going to keep herself together. But he wouldn't allow it. Aang reached out to catch hold of her forearm as she turned to walk away. For a moment, Toph resisted his efforts to pull her closer.

"Aang, we agreed," she reminded him tersely. "Don't make this complicated."

However, Aang had learned long ago that whenever Toph made a concerted effort to distance herself from people, that's exactly when she needed the most love. "I'm not making it complicated. I'm going to hug you goodbye," he declared, channeling her stubborn will one last time, "and you're going to shush up and deal with it."

He did exactly that, holding her fast until the obstinate rigidity finally went out of her body and hugged him back. When she did, Toph returned his embrace fiercely, her arms encircling him with vise-like strength, her slender fingers bunched tightly in the then material of his shirt. The moment was swollen with an abundance of unspoken emotions. They stayed that way for a long time, impervious to the curious glances from their friends, with Toph pretending not to cry and Aang pretending not to feel her hot tears soaking into his collar.

Later that evening, a few hours before Zuko, Mai and Toph were set to depart; Aang stepped out into the courtyard of the Jasmine Dragon while his friends bickered about Sokka's woeful lack of artistic ability and found himself surprisingly content. The last few months of his life had been nothing short of chaotic turmoil. The idea that all of _that_ had led him to this precise moment, this perfect, unbelievable moment completely amazed Aang. What had seemed to him like curses before was now revealed to be blessings in disguise. Aang would be forever grateful for the life lessons he'd learned along the way because, he realized now, those lessons had helped to shape the individual he'd become. Those lessons had shaped his destiny.

When Katara came out to join him, Aang sensed her approach even before he turned and smiled at her. She smiled back, her cheeks bathed in a rosy blush, her blue eyes luminous. _Radiant_, Aang thought. She looked radiant, the exact representation of how he felt inside.

She held out her arms to him and he turned into her embrace wordlessly, instinctively. The emotions that pervaded his body were almost indescribable. Aang found home in Katara's arms, in her heart…exactly what he had been searching for ever since the day he'd found the Southern Air Temple desolated and deserted. A place to belong. A place to begin again. It had been in front of his face the entire time. _She_ had been there. Katara was his place to belong, his place to begin again.

She always would be.

Aang could have held her forever, would have gladly held her forever, but the embrace ended as all things did. They turned together briefly to glance out at the sprawling city, quiet, happy and satisfied. When Katara turned to him again, Aang knew that she was ready. He knew that she was sure. She framed his cheeks with her hands; her eyes falling closed, and turned his face up for her kiss.

They wrapped in each other's arms, pressing closer, kissing deeper, flooded with sensation and connected body, soul and heart. The feeling that swelled between them was all they'd both imagined and more. It was butterflies and electricity and the sun peeking through the clouds after a punishing rain. It was heartache and tears and painful misunderstandings. It was the fulfillment of everything they could have ever dreamed of and the unveiling of every vulnerable emotion they possessed. It was building up and tearing down, only to rebuild anew. It was laborious and exhilarating.

It was perfection.

It was love.

**End**

* * *

**A/N: I meant to leave this earlier when I posted the final chapter, but I completely forgot. Don't ever get old, people.**

**Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who stepped outside their comfort zones and read this story, whether that was a Kataanger being exposed to Taang or a Taanger being exposed to Kataang.**

**As for me, I ship both. I love both. I see the potential in both and, if it was possible to keep the whole thing in character, I'd write Aang having both Katara _and_ Toph. Yeah, he's a pimp like that, lol.**

**That brings me around to why I wrote this fic. I am someone who was completely satisfied with Avatar finale. I loved that Aang and Katara ended up together and I fully believe they're soulmates. _But_, at the same time, I'm intrigued by Taang potential and I wonder what would have happened between Aang and Toph if they'd had more one on one time to get to know each other better. So then I asked myself, "How can I still preserve that lovely Kataang ending and yet satisfy my Taang cravings?"**

**This fic was born.**

**I didn't write it to trick people. I didn't write it to increase my readers. I didn't write it to convince anyone of the awesome merits of Kataang and/or Taang. I wrote it because I love these characters and I love both pairings. I wrote it because I wanted to share it with others who might feel the same. I wrote it because I love Avatar.**

**And that's all.**

**Thank you all again for reading.**

**DJNS**


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